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The Nature of Predators - Something About Blue (2/4)
🕑 Added 2023-09-06 11:01:00 +0000 UTCMemory transcription subject: Rivlia, Gojid Exterminator
Date [standardized human time]: March 2, 2137
Throughout the moderate ride to the park, I admired what was left of our colony. Fake bristles were advertised for balding Gojids; I doubted those looked any less phony than the prior sets, and I couldn’t understand the stigma around natural aging processes regardless. Other alien cultures respected age as a sign of wisdom, and we supposedly did too, but we tried to hide its markers? Nobody liked to feel the graces of youth leaving. When I was a child, I wanted to grow up, but now, I’d trade my flamethrower and go back to digging in the dirt in a heartbeat. Carefree, no responsibilities.
The park’s well-maintained trees were surrounded by bushes, many of which were planted by the Protector’s followers to bring her restoration to the colony. Our deity loved those who preserved peaceful lifeforms and brought beauty to the world. We were one of the few races that kept flowers and plants within our homes, as a sign of our attachment to nature. Few people were in the park, which should make the task of finding Blue easier. I checked my holopad for new messages, and sure enough, a notification was on the home screen.
You can smell the flowers in the air. Life is beautiful, and we don’t say it enough. How many people just walk past all of this gorgeous scenery, without giving it a glance? No appreciation? Blue had written.
I perked up, scanning the area with haste. I take it you’re off work, and at the park?
Yeah, almost. Everyone’s in such a hurry all the time, except when…they notice predators. Um, you’d think life would be about more than that.
There are predators nearby, Blue? BLUE?! Are you safe?
There was a long pause, as the typing icon stopped and started again. The reply seemed short and curt, much unlike the usual paragraphs of text he spilled. Yes. Why did it take Blue so long to type that one word? I racked my brain, realizing that he might be short-circuiting from fearful instincts. If there was a human in the area, I was not going to let them ruin this moment that I had been dying to actualize! I always hated those predators, but the disgust and abhorrence was at an all-time high now. Those cursed vermin needed to be dealt with, before they could hunt us, or the birds Blue and I adored so much.
The time of being a bystander to the Terran invasion was over. Doing the Protector’s bidding came before any Prime Minister’s mandate, and with Blue being tracked by a predator’s hungry eyes, frightened in his safe space, I finally had the courage to do what I should’ve done when they arrived.
“Denna? There’s a human walking about the park, terrorizing the neighborhood,” I hissed. “It’s going to ruin everything! We must find it, and put it down. We’re exterminators, dammit.”
Denna gulped. “Those are sapient predators. There’s two of us. I’m not sure we should go after it without more of us…safety in herd numbers.”
“Sapient. Compassionless, deceiving, plotting monsters that are taking over every planet they can get their grimy feet on. I’m tired of these so-called refugees draining our sanity and our resources, and hiding behind the guise of friendship. They’ll burn like any other beast, and we have the Protector’s blessing on our side. Are you in?”
“I have your back, Rivi. I don’t want to get close to one of those things; they’re beyond unnerving. Everything about them is wrong.”
“I’ll take charge. You just watch my back in case it lunges at me. Do you see the predator?”
“No. Are you sure Blue is at this park?”
“It’s the only large park in the area, with the kind of wildlife he’d be looking for. Everything else is out of the way—not where you’d go after work. Find that filthy human! If we don’t fight back when our loved ones are in danger, why call ourselves exterminators?”
Denna drew a calming breath, then flicked her claws in agreement. My exterminator partner hurried up a hill; as one of the more fit members on our payroll, her stout legs scaled the incline with impressive fervor. I trailed behind with a modest jog, and followed where she was already pointing. A Terran was ambling along the walkway as if it owned the place, wet secretions oozing from under its armpits into its pelts. I could only imagine how much it stank to the Protector’s Cloud. There were no Gojids around it, likely because its appalling, uncovered features scared anyone who passed by. Blue must’ve wisely vacated the area, which filled my heart with relief.
I’m slightly disappointed too…even though what matters is that he’s safe. I really wanted to meet him. I can’t believe this rotten fucking PREDATOR ruined it.
The human was unaware of our presence, seeming to be glued to its holopad. Its forward-facing eyes were trained on the screen, though I couldn’t tell what it was studying from this far away. Perhaps it had hijacked our internet, and was capitalizing on innocent discussions of the Protector’s beauty to pinpoint the best places to hunt. This creature looked more ungroomed than the ones I’d seen on television, with its curly, black hair a frizzy mess. It must like being dirty, since it clearly needed a shower about ten years ago. The longer I looked at it, the more horrific it became.
My heart rate was elevated from this cursory overview; like Blue had done, all I wanted was to flee away from it. My spines were at full bristle, trying to escape their fixed places, and my fur was standing on end. The skin-crawling sensation I got from its diabolical visage was as if the bugs, which no doubt inhabited its mangy scalp, had burrowed into my pelt. Seeing its fingers wrapped around its holopad, tightening enough that its harsh-looking knuckles turned white, made it obvious that it was fantasizing about strangling prey. Those binocular eyes were turning more wild by the minute, tempted by the overstimulating allure of scents in the air.
If it lost control of its all-consuming instincts now, it could track Blue’s scent! By the time that thought crossed my mind, I was already racing down the hill with my flamethrower out. Catching the predator by surprise, as I barreled into its back, it stumbled onto all fours. It yelped in surprise, and I was grateful the Protector cursed these creatures with such pinhole vision. My stomach flipped, realizing I’d touched its slimy back, but I managed to keep my lunch. The predator had dropped its holopad, and snapped its head around to train its gaze on me. It looked horrified that prey had turned the table, rather than it being the one to pounce on me for a taste of blood.
“Stay down!” I channeled my anger over Blue’s fright to keep my voice steady. Everything has gone wrong in his life; he doesn’t deserve to deal with human filth, on top of that. “Don’t make a move, or I’ll cook you.”
The human’s voice was breathy, and it raised two outstretched palms like it was resisting the urge to throttle me. When it finally spoke, its growling voice was as discordant as a Gojid could imagine, like it was designed to cause mental damage to any innocent listeners. I almost wished my translator wouldn’t try to tell me this thing’s barks had actual meaning, because how could that throaty snarl be true speech? Its pitch was threatening, regardless of whether its words were; it must have practiced this low, gravelly baritone to assert dominance over lesser creatures. This thing was undoubtedly a hunter, and the overwhelming sense of dread it imparted in person was unspeakable.
Its canines, pointed daggers embedded into its very gums, were visible as it spoke. “Please, don’t hurt me. I…I d-don’t want to die. I’ll do whatever you ask…I don’t have a lot of money, but you can t-take my credits. I know what you are. I swear, I’m just trying to live my life. I haven’t hurt anyone. I’m not a threat…”
“If you were trying to live your life, you wouldn’t have come somewhere you aren’t wanted!” I snapped, moving the flamethrower close to the green lines in its temples. Its skin was nearly translucent, showing the untoward outlines of its veins. Red patches clung to its cheeks, and that blotchy, slimy appearance was a visual assault on my senses. “What is your name, filth? Give me your ID.”
“Giannis Samaras. H-here.”
The predator kept one hand raised, and inched the other toward its lower pelt. I tensed even further, with a stance that was rigid and locked. It gradually raised a card from its pocket, which I could tell was a Gojid census ID; its own picture had scarred a camera lens, capturing it with its menacing teeth on full display. This was how it presented itself, the second prey weren’t around! I snatched the item from the predator, wiping the plastic against my firesuit with disgust. Its sweaty fingerprints, along with the contaminants on its prey-killing hands, were all over this thing. I snapped a picture with my own holopad, before throwing the card to the ground.
“What does ‘living your life’ mean to you, Giannis? Whetting your appetite on local birds? Scouting potential Gojid kids to eat?”
“I like nature. I like the park. I, we, would never—”
“Save that rehearsed speech. It won’t work on me. We’ll see if you’re ready to talk after I start burning you up; all predators scream beneath the Protector’s cleansing fire.”
“…that’s what the Great Protector faith is about?! Uh, wait, I didn’t mean to cause offense, I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. You can’t just, um, I, er…”
The human sounded like it was hyperventilating; seeing it squirm, terrified out of its wits, was a satisfying reversal of the natural order. Denna angled her small ears toward the holopad on the ground, which was unlocked. Check what it was doing when we caught it. I peeked at my own device first, looking for any texts from Blue as to his condition, but he was silent. There were no signs of blue Gojid blood beneath Giannis’ grimy nails or between his teeth, so hopefully that meant he hadn’t gotten a piece of my friend. It wasn’t like Blue to go radio-silent out of nowhere, or not to gush about what he saw on his walks. As soon as we finished up with this monster, I’d check in with him.
I kept the flamethrower trained on the human, as I sidestepped toward the holopad. “What were you doing on your device, predator? Plotting a so-called ‘predator stampede,’ complete with bombs? I heard about that. Watching videos of dying prey, drowning in their own blood?”
“I was talking. To a friend! A g-good friend, um, about flowers—and uh, look, it’s all innocent. Please, check for yourself. I’m telling the truth. We’re not what you think we are,” it stammered.
I snorted, reaching down to the ground. “About flowers. As if. Why do you lie, when it’s going to be disproven in mere seconds?”
“Please look, ‘cause that’s the real topic. I’m really trying to comply with you, and not do anything wrong, and I won’t come here anymore if this is your spot. What can I do? What do you want from me?”
“I want you gone, removed from my planet. Removed from existence. Now let’s see what you’re doing here, you slimy wr—”
My words broke off, as I studied the familiar website on the screen. Even though the words were in the unaesthetic human lexicon, the profile picture was unmistakable; it was one of my drawings of the Protector’s Cloud, abundant with fruits and vegetation. My fear, which had climbed to an overwhelming note, switched over to shock. Blue was…Blue is…no. The anonymous penpal I chatted with for hours, opening my soul, was a predator: this grimy, slimy predator that looked like it’d sprung from a vat. My flamethrower lowered with uncertainty, the righteous anger of protecting “Blue” gone.
Why would this Giannis beast have wasted so much time acting and deceiving me? Was it rehearsing its ruse, fine-tuning it for its adventures in the wild? Tears welled in my eyes, along with an extreme amount of pain; I suddenly could understand how the Venlil, and several others, had fallen for the predators’ ploy. I had underestimated how charming and convincing these vile simians could be. “Blue” had swept me off my feet, in a way no one else ever had, and I had never suspected I was talking to a flesh-eating wretch. My claws twisted with a mix of emotions too intertwined to decipher.
I hate it. I fucking hate this thing…it tricked me! But still, I can’t bring myself to burn “Blue.” I cared about the genuine person I believed it was, and our treacherous chats were the highlight of my day.
I threw the holopad back in its chest, and swept my flamethrower in a shooing gesture. “Go. Get out of here. GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!”
Giannis’ pupils darted around with eyes the size of moons, showing the horrid red veins in its off-putting whites. Its fingers fumbled with the holopad, and it nearly tripped over its lanky legs as it pushed itself upright. My directions to leave didn’t need to be given twice; Denna looked bewildered, as I released the predator I’d intended to cleanse from this planet. The human bolted away from us, faster than I’d ever seen its lumbering kind run on screen. It vanished down the sidewalk, not slowing or checking behind it, and took my hopes of a soulmate with it. I was trembling with shock and fear, wondering what signs I’d missed that Blue was a monster.
“What are you doing?” Denna gasped. “I thought you wanted to put it down. You were talking about burning it—”
I threw my arms up in frustration. “Ugh, I don’t know. I couldn’t do it. Just let me think! I…wasn’t sure what it’s playing at. Need more…more information.”
“You want to see what it’s up to? It left its ID behind, since it was in such a hurry to escape. We can search its info.”
I followed where Denna was pointing in a daze, and picked up the now-muddy card from the ground. My throat was dry, so I waved the plastic in acknowledgment and tucked it in my work belt. It was all I could do to resist the urge to block Blue on the forum, right here and right now. That wasn’t a rational thing to do, since the predator would just go prey on someone else; it was my duty to figure out what its objective was with me. Furthermore, nobody else in the exterminators office could know what I had just learned. What kind of decent person would have fallen so hard for a predator? This could never come to light with my colleagues.
Denna dipped her head. “Well, I’m glad that’s over. By the Protector, you’re brave, Rivi. Let’s go see if Blue’s still in the area; he’ll want to thank you, if he saw that!”
“I, um, don’t feel so g-good. That took a lot out of me, and it might’ve scared him off too, so I think we should try again another time,” I stammered.
“You really don’t look well. I guess I thought you were hardened to predators, but it must’ve been a lot to confront such an abyssal horror up-close. I’ll take you back to the station.”
I allowed my friend to usher me back to the vehicle with a guiding arm; a deep-rooted numbness was enveloping all feeling and cognition. Letting that human go was the wrong decision, and Denna was right to question why I didn’t put it down. How could Blue be a predator? As much as I knew that I had to let Giannis believe I was still falling for its ruse, I needed a few days of not speaking to it, regardless of my duty. It was difficult to fathom how I could ever play along again, talking to this animal like a person, when I knew a sadistic savage was typing the response.
When I collapsed into the passengers’ seat, I broke down sobbing. Denna put the vehicle in motion without a word, as I attempted to put a heart that was shattered into a million pieces back together. There was no way to act normal and hide these wounds from others. It would be a long time before I could ever trust anyone lurking behind a screen again.
A/N - Part 2 of the tale! Rivlia finds out exactly who the "Blue" character she'd been pining over is, while holding him at flamethrower-point, and is left despondent over what she believes in predator deception. Meanwhile, from Giannis' perspective, he went through a traumatic experience--and as far as we know, is unaware of the link between this exterminator and his online friend. What will Rivi do, now that she knows Blue is a human? What will Giannis think if he finds out who she is?
As always, thank you for reading and supporting! The one-shots that won the poll are: Thafki at a waterpark, Haysi POV looking at human artifacts, Yotul rebuilders, and the Human-Venlil actors story. My plan is for them to be released in that order. I will be discussing the possibility of the last two having multiple parts on Discord as we get closer!
Comments
Yannis Morris
Well if isn’t the version of me from the Autocorrect Universe
Weston Simmons
Female Rauln strikes again lets see where it goes
Mike Barth
I am surprised by the lack of on board marines for an invasion force.
Nul Atlas
Space Paladin, what happened to you saying you were gonna write some wholesome content lmao
Eric Walter
Ya know I was kinda hoping that blue was a gojid afterall
EF_stream
The way Giannis is described…….for some reason reminds me of what people think of when you say “discord moderators” or “reddit moderators”
Dragon of the North
I think the only reason she didn't was that it was a human pad and was in one of our languages.
Wickerwood
They should kiss and make out... up!
Byron Ritchie
Ngl I hate riv in this Hopefully giannis books it back to earth or skalgia
Some Lvm
Well, all of us here are paying money to have the world and lives of these poor fictional creatures twisted and turned for our entertainment so... Yes?
Adam Myers
Unironically, yes.
PhycoKrusk
Honestly friends, the more time that goes by, and the more chapters of the main and side stories I read, the more convinced I become that the real villain in all of this is us, the Audience. Are we the real monsters?
PhycoKrusk
Well... now that you mention it....
Brianreal
I feel like she's gonna start stalking him, realizes he's not some sort of monster, and then tries to meet up with him irl to tell him how sorry she is and it was her that attacked him. But I don't know enough about the human to see if he's the forgiving type or not.
Some Lvm
And that kids, is our PSA for this week, brought to you by SpacePaladin: Don't go around meeting random strangers from internet chat rooms IRL!
OctupleThreat
So Gojids having a density between black hole and neutron star is a racial trait, huh?
OctupleThreat
That's literally what the Human Exterminator part 1 is about
Monkeymanhasaplan
Space paladin keep doin what your doin because you obviously seem to enjoy it, but I honestly over seeing humans being pushed around and being cowards as a default responses idk maybe I'm a asshole person but if i was any of these humans i would've snapped so long ago, but ill also freely admit I have my own mental problems and tend to snap easily its been the way i was since i was a kid. I hope you enjoy writing your stories cause I did enjoy reading them for awhile but it's just the same repetitive loop of ohh maybe vicious predator maybe not so bad, and the humans basically allowing themselves to be torched because fwuzzy, cwute, space people. I'm just tired of seeing humans not getting angry about. And the very few who do get angry about it make it about superiority. Some already said basically what I'm saying but it is possible to be upset or dare I say hateful of someone or something without making it about racial supremacy. It's possible to be respectful of someone and their culture without bowing down to ludicrous demands.
Danny Luca
Roy Mustang wouldn’t even have to try. There is no greater predator in the universe…. Except for Duke Silver
Austin
Sorta surprised that Rivlia didn’t assume that Giannis stole the device from Blue. But I feel bad for Giannis. He was walking through the park and also got killed!
autotheftgrand
Roy Mustang vs an exterminator? Who would win? I have had too much coffee.
autotheftgrand
They're literally firemen. But they don't care about books.
Vladi Vladi
You ain’t gonna spot someone sneaking up on you if your ears aren’t trained. In the 22snd century humans have so much noise pollution on the daily it’s impossible to have good hearing unless you actually seclude yourself from civilisation and train for a couple of years
autotheftgrand
I guess humans aren't as well designed for spotting predators sneaking up to attack them unprovoked...
EliasArt2Life
I’d say “poor Rivi”, but honestly, Giannis had it worse. Imagine moving to an alien colony to escape war, and everyone hates you. You spend nearly a month looking for a job, finally get one doing hard manual labor, and everyone is either aggressive towards you, or avoids you like the plague. Your only solace is getting to take walks in the park, and you decide to take a load off. Then, two Exterminators come out of nowhere, attack you, force you to the ground, insist that you’ve done something/are planning on doing something wrong, and threaten to burn you to charcoal. Finally, they let you go, telling you to get out, and you accidentally leave your ID with them. No way is he going to the Exterminators’ Office to get it back after that treatment, so he either has to go to whatever government office can issue him a new ID, and hope they have mercy on him, or he has to pray no other Exterminators pick on him, because he won’t be able to give them his ID. On a side note, I’d like to see Rivi go through the chat log, and realize that Blue never deceived her; she jumped to the conclusion that he was a Gojid, and deceived herself. Sure, he wasn’t upfront about being human, but she wasn’t upfront about being an Exterminator. Also, add another count of Police Brutality, and a count of “lack of due process/attempted summary execution” to the list of things the Exterminators shouldn’t be doing, yet are doing anyway.
Vladi Vladi
Do you want the medieval militia to react positively to being reminded demon(human) refugees are invading and stinking up their planet(living in horrible conditions due to lack of governmental support)? Of course they react negatively to human presence and want to immediately kill the guy, he’s an abomination in their eyes. The point of the story is for us to witness how human compassion crushes the indoctrination the Federation instilled on their own people
Vladi Vladi
Poor bastard. I can’t wait to read his facial expression and panic ridden thoughts when he finds out who was *this* close to torching him alive. Hopefully he learns his lesson and starts doing his research on Non-Human/Venil/Yotul cultures, for his own safety…
Vladi Vladi
A round of applause for Giannis: the most uneducated bumpkin in the NoP canon since Cain. You are telling me that a human refugee. Living and interacting with aliens, especially Gojids, one of the most dangerous and fanatical of the cured slave races of the Federation… confused the Great Protector for a Abrahamic religion analog? Did he never spend longer than 5 minutes being looked at by a Gojid? Did he never speak to a Gojid face to face before?
Sci-fi reader
Ah. Racial profiling and beating by the police, eh Exterminator. Different planet. Same shit.
Laenthis Tranchesoleil
Sometimes I really wish those dumbasses alien could see what would have happened if mankind gave up peace in the face of overwhelming hatred and just went "fuck it,if that's what they expect from us, then that's what they shall get from us". It would probably be terrifying sight
PhycoKrusk
Not convinced it's matriarchal; matrilineal, maybe, but insufficient evidence. It's important to note that there is a key difference between Rivlia and our other exterminator buddy, Rauln. Rauln was only in it for revenge; it's easy to change an attitude when revenge is the motivation. Rivlia is in it for the Herd; she's a true believer in the Party. Neither one of them has to die, but to actually change, Rivlia is going to have to experience ego-death.
PhycoKrusk
Exterminators who believe completely in the Herd cannot break their programming without ego-death.
DemonVee
I think we can expect Rivlia's friend to instantly get suspicious when she out of no where stops fawning over Blue and probably looks at the holopad with pure disdain. Blue will be scarred and probably not want to talk about what happened, but he will seek some comfort by trying to rely on his only friend, a friend that now hates him and probably start cold or even manipulative. Something that blue might notice and start freaking out more. Unless Rivlia starts feeling some sympathy over the text messages I can't see things turning out warmly.
PhycoKrusk
Exterminators are basically the commissars of the Federation; they have almost ultimate authority to determine what is and is not dangerous to the herd/Party, and to take whatever action they feel is appropriate to handle it. There are a lot of planets and colonies to manage; it's going to take time for policy to catch up everywhere
Apogee
Oh man I don’t know why it didn’t click before but Gojid are a matriarchal society. Their main deity is a Godess their planetary leader was female and so far both exterminators are as well. The females are the ones who lead and protect or at least traditionally in their culture. Though I bet biologically the females are also larger then the males on average. Interesting. As for the chapter, she’s really young isn’t she? And the human sounds like he’s one step away from being homeless poor guy. I hope there isn’t an HF cell that will scoop him up on this planet. But somehow I bet this is gonna end with her rescuing him getting past those biases! What am I kidding, with that much racism it doesn’t go away in a few months it takes decades. There isn’t any romance here. Nothing real anyway. It’s a tradedgy. One or both of them is gonna die.
PhycoKrusk
Rivlia was born into a cult, raised in a cult, and was eventually inducted into the ranks reserved for the true believers. It is unreasonable to expect her to just throw off her programming as if it were a coat.
PhycoKrusk
Felra also wasn't an exterminator, and had the benefit of at least being open to the idea of befriending a "predator." Rivlia is just programmed too well.
PhycoKrusk
It's not propaganda; it's programming. The Federation is a death cult.
DemonVee
What was that one about?
Valkyrie
I was silently hoping the human character is gonna be named Geralt, but oh well. Sadly we don't get Geralt of Rivlia. At least it still starts with a G. ^^ On another note, aren't there any sorta laws that guide interactions between extermination officers and any other citizens? They can't possibly just be walking around and attacking / torching people without invoking wrath from the UN embassy. There would already be actual murders if that was the case. VP has its share of similarly minded exterminators, and yet the first and thus far only such case was a human internal matter.
architectural engineer
maybe it might come on the radio briefly XD
John Krause
Aww too bad the arxur one shot didn’t win
Mr. Walker
I was hoping for more subtle racism and a slow build up, buuuutttt this works too. Also, I kinda wish Giannis had broken into song: "I'm Blue Da ba dee da ba di!"
DemonVee
It's what drives all conflict in this story, whether major or minor.
unknown entity
These aliens really do a great job on being very hateable, after reading about encounters like these I suddenly understand why HF is the way it is, even if I disaggre with it.
Mylax Kindflame
Is it just me, or is the space racism getting frustratingly old? Yes, I understand that it’s ‘realistic’ and I really do love this world SP built, but honestly I think the amount of shit Humanity just rolls over to is pretty infuriating. If Rivlia doesn’t get fired for this, then honestly I can fully understand why HF wanted to target these assholes in the other miniseries
Mylax Kindflame
Gonna be honest: I really hate Rivlia. If that Human hadn’t been Blue, she would’ve torched him. Not to mention that she and her partner deserve to be fired and imprisoned for assaulting a random guy at the park.
S1nsational
Felra a tiny mechanic, is a 1000 times braver and more loyal, than this supposedly brave and in love exterminator. Granted Felra got some hints beforehand, and thought she was talking to a human all along, but still, she reacted far better to the truth of her friend.
Byne
This is really stretching the definition of a meet cute but I'm still on board
Byne
At least a billion.
Constance Brown
I didn't realize until now how much I needed this to happen, but yes.
Quin Reiss
i feel so bad for giannis
Jonathan Cardoso Mota
Good lord Giannis is not in a good state, is he? Shit's gotta be extra terrible for him.
BiasMushroom721
The propaganda is strong with this one.
Kaiser Marcqui
Holy shit, I have no words. Poor Giannis... I can't wait for the next episode.
Joe King
"I was attacked at the park, I'm scared to leave my house... I called in sick to work, I just can't my nerves are fried after that incident" Rivlia is about to mentally implode.
Toby
Goddamn these Gojids don’t mess around. It does make me wonder just how many humans have been charred by over-zealous exterminators since Humanity reached the stars.
Anthony Mears
Blue skidoo!
DRIVE ME CLOSER, I WANT TO HIT THEM WITH MY SWORD
Heh, First
