Chapter 88: Weak and Useless
There was silence over Au’dtair’s comms before the other male answered. "Vraev’ox has informed me that you might be suffering from The Madness. Did you want me to come and put you out of your misery?"
Au’dtair scoffed at that idea. He was the complete opposite of misery, and the very idea that he was suffering from The Madness was laughable. "I am not suffering from The Madness," he said, putting voice to his thoughts. "I simply told Vraev’ox that I was occupied with another hunt and would meet up with you later."
"What are you hunting?" Ye’tab asked. Au’dtair watched as the zmaj disappeared like the previous one, and his pet started to walk away, completely unconcerned about the devastation in its wake.
"Zmaj," replied Au’dtair as he followed his pet. He was not concerned that it could hear his conversation with Ye’tab. Not only would his helmet prevent the sound from carrying through, but his pet didn’t seem to have the ability to hear most sounds unless they were close.
Really, this species was a study in contradictions.
"There is no way for you to be able to take on one of those by yourself. Call the others. They will give you the kill, I am sure, but don’t take it out on your own," advised Ye’tab, a note of concern flowing through the comms.
"I have found an off button," said Au’dtair, remembering something that his pet had said the first time it had managed to kill a zmaj. It looked like it had also penetrated the same spot on top of the skull of the second zmaj as well.
"An off button? What is that?" demanded Ye’tab, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"A specific place where the species seems to be vulnerable," replied Au’dtair as he continued down the path. He didn’t know if his pet knew where it wanted to go or if it was just guessing, but either way, he was more than willing to follow.
"Huh, call the others; they will be interested in the information. But then leave the planet. I have new information on the L-series ship, including a few kills that seem to be created by someone with blades similar to ours," said Ye’tab, getting to the reason he contacted the other male.
"Do you think the ship’s pet did it?" asked Au’dtair as he cocked his head to the side. Yes, he could picture his pet killing other species.
"Impossible," scoffed Ye’tab.
"Why do you say that?" pushed Au’dtair. This was the opening he was hoping for to get more information on the species his pet was.
"By all accounts, the pets have been the females of their species. They are weak and useless. They have no natural defenses and do not have what it takes to kill something, let alone ten Thuzirusians. Instead, they stay on their ships where they have their every need catered to. In fact, the information that I have gathered is that they are worse than the females of our species with their demands for servitude; but lack our female’s strength."
Au’dtair looked at the pet in front of him. He had been certain that his pet was the one that they were hunting, but based on that description, there was no way that was possible.
"Do you have a visual image that you can send me?" he asked, "Just in case I come across a pet?"
Once again, Ye’tab scoffed. "There is no way for you to come across one of these pets, especially not on your current planet. But sending an image of their leader now."
A 3D image of a species appeared inside of Au’dtair’s helmet, and he studied it. The base figure seemed to be the same; however, his pet’s coloring was different from the image. "And you say that this is the female of their species?" he pressed, spinning the image around to see the distinctive mounds that his pet had copied onto the leader. However, his pet’s seemed to be fractionally different than the other’s. Maybe their species looked similar but were not exact copies of each other.
"Yes," grunted Ye’tab. "According to the Sisalik records, the males were more of a threat and the dominant sex in their communities, being both larger in stature and more aggressive. However, I find that hard to believe. How can such a soft species prove to be any type of a threat?"
Once again, Au’dtair looked at his pet. It...she... didn’t have its... her... armor activated right now, which gave him the opportunity to study her better. She looked so much like the image, yet her mane was darker than the other ones, not to mention longer. Her eyes were a lighter color, almost gray, compared to the brown eyes of the other. But despite the differences, it was obvious to tell that they were the same species.
Ye’tab claimed that her species was weak, and yet, his pet managed to kill a zmaj on its own, blow up an entire family of pantroglodytes, level a section of the jungle, and according to Ye’tab, managed to kill ten Thuzirusians.
Yeah, his pet was nothing like how his friends described her species.
"I think your information is not accurate," muttered Au’dtair, providing more information to his friend than he meant to. There were a few clicks of silence, and Au’dtair realized that his pet had yet to eat since his offering this morning. And that was several catawr ago.
"And why do you think that?" asked Ye’tab slowly.
"Why do I think what?" replied Au’dtair distractedly. His most important concern was to feed and water his pet, but not go so far away that he lost sight of it... her.
"Why do you think my information is wrong? I gathered it from the Sisalik, the ones responsible for researching the pet species. This is what they had determined based on multiple years of research."
"Then it must be right," answered Au’dtair. "I am probably wrong in my thinking that every individual in a species is not necessarily like the others."
"Well, you might be right. There was a record that one subject had more of an ancient bloodline than the others. However, that record was quickly deleted almost as soon as it had been accessed," admitted Ye’tab. "It was probably wrong, which is why it was deleted."
"Probably," agreed Au’dtair, his mandibles clicking in amusement. It could have been incorrect information, or the ship made sure to protect its pet.
