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The Nature of Predators - Wild West (3/11)
🕑 Added 2024-05-22 11:00:16 +0000 UTCMemory Transcription Subject: Nilrie, Takkan Smuggler
Date [standardized human time]: April 6, 1851
The sheriffâs wife seemed surprised by our swift retreat back into their home, but clearly, Blake thought the âbanditâ was a threat to me. Marlow had little reaction at all to seeing an alien, which was a bit peculiar; there was no question he was predator-diseased, and not someone who should be part of the herd. Then again, these humans didnât seem advanced enough to have facilities. Why did diseased behavior look so natural on this species though? I could intuit that they were a threat to my welfare, and sense that there was something off about them.
âThatâŠMarlow didnât show any emotion at seeing me, not even surprise,â I told the sheriff.
Blake narrowed his intolerable eyes. âIf yer lookinâ for emotion from that sociopath, yer not gonna find it. Heâs seeinâ dollar signs. Yer his gold mine, a real big score. Steer clear of âim.â
âHe sounds like the Fissans and the Nevoks.â
âI dunno who or what those are.â
âTwo species always looking for an angle for monetary gain.â
âHmph, I already donât like âem. Donât sound too different from us.â
Maybe thatâs all thatâs wrong with themâŠjust primitive hypercapitalists.
I still avoided looking at the human, seeing the piercing gaze of a hunter in his misleading eyes. âAhem. Why donât you, um, tell me about yourself? Do you have any children?â
âWe sure do,â he grunted, putting his hat back on the counter; heâd already shed his footwear. âThey all grown up and moved out by now, but we got two of âem. Our oldest, Audrey, she done moved out to marry some farmer boy in Virginia. Our boy, Jesse, he stayed local when he settled downâcomes home anâ visits for Christmas and all. Heâs just a few towns over, so youâll meet âim if youâre here long enough.â
See, theyâre not at all like predators. They raised their children, and the kids stay in touch out of sentiment. Marlow is the dangerous one, thatâs all.
âWhat is this place?â I asked.
The human spread his hands. âThis âere is Corvallis, Oregon. Weâre the frontier, pushing west anâ tryinâ to settle more uh the land the USAâs got. Untapped territory, a chance to make it big and grow our say-so.â
âYou havenât even settled your entire planet yet?! This is hopeless.â
âHey, why ya judginâ me? You telling me you carved out every olâ corner of yer land back home?â
âYes, as well as other worlds. When the ArxurâŠhappened, a lot of my people wanted to flee as far away as possible, which means goingâŠmany, many stars away, Blake. It was a whole mess, and millions of our people fled in what we call the Diasporaâeither going to other prey speciesâ homes, or just running into the unknown. Takkans that stayed behind had to try to defend what was left.â
âI see. You talk to theseâŠother prey species on the regular?â
âOur governments work together, and weâre in regular communication; we talk about how to handle predator threats, and how to live together peacefully and preserve civilization.â
Blake pursed his lips. âWould they talk to us? These spacefolk?â
âI donât know. How do I put this? YourâŠyour face is problematic. Your eyes are genuinely horrifying; I get a knot in my stomach when they look at me. I donât mean to insult you, but you should knowâŠbeing reminded of predators while talking is a tough sell. I am sorry that the universe cursed you with these looks: itâs not your fault.â
The human seemed taken aback, not knowing how to react to that statement. I couldnât blame him, but I felt obligated to crush his hopes from the start. Those eyes would strike fear and dread into any prey creatureâs heart; I didnât know how they managed to look in the mirror each morning. Blakeâs hand tightened, suggesting my comments had upset him. The appendage uncurled to grab his hat, and he issued a long sigh. The primitive shuffled back toward the door, disinterested in conversation. I felt a bit guilty, but it wasnât meant to be unkindâonly to portray the reality of their predator resemblance.
âWhy donât ye go keep to yer quarters? We need some time to ourselves, process all this,â Blake said in a deflated voice. âDonât lay a fingerâŠor whatever that three-fold shit is calledâŠon my wife while Iâm gone.â
I tilted my head. âWhere are you going? Iâm sorry if I hurt your feelings; I was just trying to be upfront with you.â
âIâm gonna go talk to the other deputies, see if I can wrangle up some help to keep ya safe from Marlow. IâŠthereâs a lot that needs to be said, Nilrie, if weâre gonna try anâ protect ourselves from all this. Just do what I said anâ keep low, okay?â
âOkay. IâŠIâll give you some space. Thank you for everything, truly.â
âThank Cornelia. This all been her idea.â
Blake turned swiftly, and I noticed that he hadnât been looking at me for the last bit of the conversation; the poor thing mustâve taken my comment about the eyes to heart. I shouldnât have told him that the Federation wouldnât accept himâŠor at least not suggested the exact reason why. Remembering that he said to leave his wife alone, I didnât dare approach Cornelia to chat or offer apologies. Truth be told, I was afraid of the sheriff. Prey or not, I couldnât deal with him if he started to look angry, or switched into that authoritative voice he used with Marlow.
With guilt racking my heart, I climbed into bed and tried to think about how to make things right with the humans.
---
I mustâve drifted off while scrolling through a holobook, because I was woken by voices. My ears perked up, realizing Blake had returned from his trip into town. The male was speaking with his spouse in a hushed voice, which caught my attention. Trying to be careful with my noise level, I crept out toward the kitchen; part of me still was suspicious of what they didnât want me to find out. What if they were plotting to abandon me to Marlow, because Iâd insulted their eyes? No, that couldnât beâprey wouldnât abandon a herd member in need. Eyes watering, I inched closer.
âCornelia, Iâm telling ya, we need to make sure he donât come out âere. Cuff him back to the bedâŠbarricade the door,â Donovan grumbled. âYa ainât heard what he said. Not all of it.â
The female human sighed. âLocking Nilrie back up again wonât make him react any more positively to us. Maybe we should just tell him. Iâd do it; I have a gentler touch, Blake.â
âHe canât even look at us because our eyes remind âim of predators. He gonna find out and treat us like a buncha coyotes. No, I wonât let ya put yerself âround him. Lord knows what heâll do.â
âWhat did your deputies have to say?â
âI was keen on movinâ him out of our house, to the jail, where they can deal with Marlow and his folk. I got the feelinâ my men ainât gonna protect Nilrie. Preacher Collins is goinâ around sayinâ that the spacemanâs a demon, and the townfolk are pretty worked up. We got a real problem on our hands.â
âThatâsâŠnot good. We have to figure out a new plan, as much as Iâd like him to stay here. I donât want you putting yourself in harmâs way.â
âI donât wanna be in harmâs way neither; even less do I want you runninâ into some scoundrels. Letâs just eat, âfore he wakes up. Keep yer eyes and ears peeled.â
âSecrecy isnât the best approach.â
âItâs the best one I done got for now. Iâm done talkinâ âbout this.â
I could hear the sounds of silverware scraping plates, and wondered why they were eating without me. Blake said that they wanted time to themselves to reckon with all that theyâd learned, but my curiosity outweighed my respect for that request. A heartfelt apology was the least I could do; he couldnât resent me for that. I crept forward as stealthily as possible, not wanting them to hear me coming, in case they offered up any other useful information. I also wanted to figure out what the secrecy was about. The humans in the town thought I was a âdemon?â Perhaps they were too primitive to understand aliens, yet the sheriff and his wife seemed to at least get the concept of âother people from the stars.â
I finally peeked around the corner, and my heart dropped in my chest. Blake and Cornelia Donovan were chowing down on something definitively more sinister than oats; the urge to retch warred with the sensation to scream, as I saw these humans gnawing at a pink cutlet that was some kind ofâŠcharred animal tissue. Iâd had it right the first time, when I knew their faces belonged to a predator! Why would a beast lower itself to eat plantsâthat demon had tricked me, and it worked like a charm! I spilled everything about our values and technology, even showing it an Arxur raid that it could model; itâd probably told its deputies to spread the word to begin planning for a distant future.
These are monsters, with no qualms about filling their stomach with dead animal bits; I ate off their fucking cutlery. Iâve got to get out here before Iâve exhausted my purposes. This is the most unsafe place I could beâŠMarlow is what they really are, toying with prey, and it just couldnât control itself.
Blake stood up, slamming its bony fist on the table. âCome out, Nilrie. I can hear ya sniveling, fallinâ all over yerself. Face me like a man.â
I crawled out with my belly pressed to the ground, shaking from what I had just seen; they were going to kill me now that I knew their secret. These predators were hungry and eating flesh right now, so how could they resist diving into an exotic catch like me? I fell on the floor, weeping, and managing to beg for mercy. That was a stupid thing to do, since that was the sort of behavior predators got their laughs on; what else could I do? I couldnât believe I listened to a word this primitive, disgusting, repulsive, binocular-eyed abomination said. It was a violent beast, and I crafted excuses for it, for its obviously faulty act.
âIs this what ya wanted, Cornelia? Ya wanted âim to know?â Blake hissed at its wife.
The female placed a hand on the maleâs wrist, as if restraining him. âCalm your tone. Letâs just talk this out. Look how terrified the poor thing is.â
âHe told me weâre horrifying to look at. He seen us âeat flesh.â Thereâs nothinâ to talk about.â
âJust try, please.â
The sheriffâs calculating eyes turned to eviscerating slits, and it jabbed a finger in my direction, marking me for the kill. âYou think Iâm a monster, after everything I done for ye. Put ya under my roof, fed ya, saved yer life. I ainât done nothinâ to ya.â
âYou areâŠa m-monster. You m-mustâŠk-kill each other, enslaving w-weaker individuals, warsâŠinstincts for b-blood and suffering,â I stammered. âYou live by k-killing, carcass-muncher. And what, you âprotectâ killers from w-worse fiends?â
âWe AINâT like them Arxur. I keep order, order instead of lawlessness. I donât wanna hear no more of that talk and disrespect.â
âB-because Iâm right.â
âBecause ya insult me in my own home when Iâm the reason yer not bled out in no sand. You came to our home and we done took ya in. Ya wanna go fend for yerself? Be my guest. Walk out that door; ye wonât make it a day.â
Blake returned to munching on its flesh cutlet, hideous eyes searing into my skull like a challenge. I sealed my gaze shut, not wanting to see that depraved savage wolf down flesh bits. Its words connected in my brain, at least the part about ânot making it a day.â The sheriff had claimed me as its plaything, and was warding off the openly-snarling fiends who couldnât even imitate emotions. How long could I evade a planet of sapient predators hunting me down, without Donovanâs protection? Hadnât it just said the entire town wanted to maul me because of their blood cult preacher working them into a frenzy? I had no choice but to rely on this abomination.
âP-please help me,â I whimpered. âI donât w-want to be eaten alive.â
âYouâre just scaring Nilrie more, Blake.â Cornelia stood from the table, approaching me. âWe should be making him feel better. Turn the other cheek, remember?â
The sheriffâs eyes widened with alarm, and he hurried after his wife. âCornelia, what are you doing? Get back; he is dangerous!â
My sobbing intensified as the female human approached, and I shied away from the beast. Her eyebrows furrowed, while its lips curved down in consternation; it placed a hand ever so gently on my shoulder, and dabbed at the tears with a handkerchief. It murmured assurances that I would be okay, and that they didnât want to hurt me. That mystified me, enough to ease my tears a little. Blake seemed furious and frightened at the same time, pulling Cornelia away from me with a sudden burst of strength. The sheriff placed its wife behind it, and panted for several seconds. It was a beast guarding a possession, surely.
Why was Cornelia playing nice; did it think that simple trick would convince me?
âNilrie, my plan was to move ya, and no time like the present. Iâm packing a few supplies and gettinâ my rifle, then weâre leavinâ, right now,â Blake growled.
I forced myself to stand, not wanting to get torn apart for Cornelia approaching me. âY-yes. Okay. T-thanks.â
Out of my unwilling periphery, I noticed something I didnât expect to see next to the remains of that slaughtered animal; the humans were eating plants with their carcasses, despite the fact they hadnât needed a performance for me. It didnât make sense for a hunter to sustain itself on leaves. What the literal fuck were these freaks? It was almost as if their behavior was half-prey, half-vile predator. Their settlements were more social by nature than the Arxur, so perhaps they had some rudimentary herd instincts. Theyâd demonstrated a simplistic ability to read my feelings.
Blake stomped out the door, all but pushing me out with it. I noticed its eye movements jerking around more than normal, and the accelerated pace of its breathing. Either it was in a bloodlusting state of mind from earlier having been eating creatures from my part of the food chain, or it was afraid of me. I thought about the way its mouth twitched when I confirmed it was a monster, and stared at the creases next to its eye. Was this nightmarish fiend upset, hurt even, that I called it out for what it was?
âW-why are you p-protecting me?â I choked out.
The human slumped its shoulders. âBecause itâs the right thing to do. Itâs what I do.â
âI s-shouldnât have talked about your speciesâ k-killing. Yeah. T-that was wrong, sure.â
âNo. I seen the worst in people, Nilrie. We do real terrible shit to each other. I still believe most folk are good at heart, tryinâ to do the right thing, but it donât always seem so obvious. I just try to keep the monsters at bay, and be an honest man. Ye ainât gotta hate me. I wish youâŠwouldnât.â
The predator stalked toward its horse, a prey animal itâd made into a slave. There was sincerity even through that grating, blood-curdling register; maybe Blake Donovan was trying to be as âmoralâ as a hunter could be, though there was only so much of the animal it could cage. If it truly believed what it said about keeping order among a bunch of violent primitives, it had an impossible task in front of it. The human had to be tough and dominant to get the other savages in line. Still, moments before, Iâd seen this terror gorging itself on prey skinâit couldnât be trusted. It was not prey, even if it tried to cancel out the bloodâs derangement effect with plants.
âGoing somewhere?â a cold voice barked behind us.
I turned to see a mob of diabolical beasts pushing their way through the streets, guided by none other than Marlow. The bandit had its lips curved upward, gleeful at the prospect of having us at its mercy. Another human tailed close behind, wielding a black book in front of it like a shield; that was an assumption, that these simple beasts could even read or write. If it was literature, it was likely about the best ways to capture and skin prey. The book-grasper was wearing long black attire, with a white collar; it seemed to be some authority figure, since it was leading alongside Marlow.
Suddenly more than willing to put my loyalties with the sheriff, I moved closer to Blake Donovan and hoped that heâd strike down this lawless throng.
A/N - Part 3! After learning a bit about the frontier, Marlow, and telling Blake his eyes are horrid, Nilrie discover the truth about humanityâŠafter spotting a meal thatâs not oats. The sheriff isnât pleased with the insults after he saved Nilrieâs life, and decides our Takkan needs to go somewhere else, for Corneliaâs safety. Our narrator is unsure what to make of his savior, who admits that heâs seen the worst of humans, before heâs greeted by our troublesome banditânow returned with a preacher and a mob. How will Sheriff Donovan get out of this predicament, if he can at all; and what will he do with Nilrie even if they do escape? Will Nilrie ever accept humanity, after the recent things he has witnessed?
As always, thank you for reading and supporting!
Comments
Some Lvm
@Luiz: I am no expert, but I don't think there is anything against narcotics in the Bible. In fact, in the past even the slight high from chewing raw coffee beans was believed to be a religious experience.
extraintelligence
Now hold up there. Fire-and-Brimstone preachers were common on the East Coast, specifically among the Methodists and Baptists, whose aims were to increase conviction among already converted patrons. However, the overwhelming majority of preachers who took to the frontiers between 1800 - 1840 were part of the Second Great Awakening, a movement that believed other denominations had become too mired in doctrine and ritual, putting off less dogmatic potential converts. Their doctrine was boiled down to little more than "congregate on Sunday, get baptized, and live by the morals in the New Testament," and their ministry was more gentle and outreach focused. Also, while the idea of non-humanoid aliens wasn't a thing yet, both non-humanoid people and extraterrestrials were well known concepts individually. Mythology the world over is replete with anthropomorphic animals and monsters of every shape and size, both evil and benign. As for aliens, Voltaire was mainly the one to popularize them with his novella Le MicromegĂĄs, where an enormous, mountain eating humanoid from the Sirius star system visits Earth and studies us (among other things; one of the book's themes is how insignificant humans really are at the grand scale). We might not have been explicitly combining them back then, but it wouldn't be much of a leap of logic to connect them when faced with a real alien. That's why I think it's more likely Collins is young and impressionable. He's probably not a Methodist or Baptist, especially as far out as Oregon. Even then, though, Nilrie's ship probably had a very violent entry and landing, which would undoubtedly spook the townsfolk. If terrified people came to a young and equally frightened preacher for guidance, demanding to know what's going on and that something be done, I could see him getting swept up in the panic and making up a response, similar to how rumors tend to start and get blown out of proportion.
Space Paladin
Just a typo, my bad, but thank you!
Yannis Morris
Anyone else feeling like thisâll be an 8 parter?
Gumcel
Didnât he already say that he wanted to pawn off Nilrieâs holopad?
Charming Cobra
Is that question mark you used at the end of the note a typo? Or is it a genuine question, because I'll always be happy to keeping reading and support you! :D
EliasArt2Life
Iâm just going to say that a pastor, from a time period where âfire and brimstoneâ sermons were too uncommon, deciding the creature, whose existence attacks the commonly held belief that Earth (and humanity) was essentially the center of the universe, is a demon⊠it doesnât seem all that out there. While human-centrism was slowly declining, it was still strong during these days. It can be pretty strong NOW.
EliasArt2Life
Yep. The façade only lasted ONE chapter. Unfortunately for Nilrie, heâs gotten himself stuck on the wrong side of something even worse than âpredator bloodlustâ; fear. And, given that this is before most of the separation between church and state came about, the pastor probably has nearly as much political power as the sheriff. The only way that Nilrie is going to get out of this is through Blakeâs diplomatic capabilities. Iâm not sure whether itâll work or not, though. On one hand, Blake calming the crowd down and getting them to disperse will be incredible to Nilrie, and show that humans can deal with problems without violence. On the other, Blake failing allows Nilrie to see the WORST of humanity, and likely could lead to some interesting points (captivity being leagues better than what the Arxur do, or the irony of them trying to rid the town of his corruption by burning him at the stake, as some examples). A combination of the two (Blake disperses most of the mob, but canât persuade the pastor, Marlow, and Marlowâs inner circle) gives the best of both worlds, but diminishes the impact of each. I wonder what Markowâs plan is. Using the pastor to control the mob will get Nilrie away from Blake, but it would be just as hard to get Nilrie away from the pastor. There doesnât seem to be any profit in it, which was stated to be Marlowâs motivation. What is he planning?
T___
I can't even think what Nilrie will think of the "American Indian Wars" and how they treat the indigenous population. Or the reservations.
Dragon Writer Luc
At least he landed in Oregon and not someplace like Kansas or Texas. Imagine if he landed in Africa and got some full-force slavery. (Africans enslave(d) each other, jsyk. There are even historical images of African men driving "primitive Europeans" before them as slaves.) Ooo, or what about landing in Penal Colony Australia?
Assailant
Iâm still really hoping that the outlaws kill Blake and Nilrie goes on a classic Western-style revenge mission to wipe out his gang. âCourse it probably ends with Nilrie going to the stars and being like âyeah humanity had one good man and they killed him so we should exterminate them allâ
extraintelligence
Collins must be quite young and impressionable; preachers are usually the cool-headed "voice of reason" types in Westerns. That may be a product of when they were written, but that just comes with the territory. Oh boy, shootout time! Or maybe Sheriff Donovan will show humanity's better nature by talking the mob down, appealing to their senses of empathy and hospitality. Of course, that still leaves Marlow (and maybe Collins), so there could still be a shootout. I hope it's more Wyatt Earp style and less Buffalo Bill: perhaps Marlow will attempt some crazy, hip-firing gunslinger trick and miss (or worse, hit something unintentionally), while Blake draws, aims, and fires in one smooth motion. Also, fun fact: while tricks like fanning the hammer and hip shooting weren't common outside of trick shooting shows, dual wielding was. They didn't fire both at once like John Woo, though, instead firing with one gun before switching to the other. It was also common to file the trigger pawl in order to give the revolver a hair trigger, or even remove the trigger entirely, instead holding the hammer down with the thumb and releasing it to fire.
Thiccccccy
Gosh darn Mormons back at it again
Luiz Henrique Alves
Specially when the priest is together with the bandit, trust me, this mix never end well, here in Brazil there are preachers that even bless drug dealers and drug houses
Andrew Boivin
Yo, we gonna get scene where the deputies pop outta the shadows? Iâm starting to get some real âMr. Underhill from To Kill a Mockingbirdâ vibes. Damn preacher, listen to Cornelia about turning the other cheek smh. Throw holy water at him, if heâs a demon there ya go lol.
Willie
"Or just fleeing into the unknown" this feels like set up if I've ever seen it Wish he'd a stuck arouound the house a bit more Cornelia is interesting Oh no a prist and a out law this can't be good
Diosjenin
Prediction: Blake will defend Nilrie but get shot in the process; Nilrie will realize heâs a good person despite his biology and save his life using some of the medical supplies he was smuggling
un_pogaz
Okay, I can vaguely guess the priest's plans for Nilrie will be very FederationTM, but I must admit that Marlow intrigues me. Probably selling him to a circus? But he's described as particularly cupid, so he'll probably want more. Things are going to be complicated, Nilrie's going to be in full ideological panic will be a main part of the next chapter. But Donovan's straightforward, no-nonsense way of presenting fact will quickly drill through his thick skull.
Raymond Crespo
Fourth
PiñaPiloto
"Maybe thatâs all thatâs wrong with themâŠjust primitive hypercapitalists." *cries* you have no idea :(
pogman
second
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