Episode Fourteen

[Velociryx]

Episode XIV: The Xeno-Zoo

“....and the really interesting thing about the worms is the fact that they all spring from a ‘Proto-Worm,’ which has the traits and characteristics of all the variants we know about, they’re....”

“You mean they all three spring from a common ancestor?” Kevin asked her.

“Exactly. The Proto-Worm has the potential to become either a LandWorm, an Isle or a Locust.”

“So what determines that?”

“Prevailing environmental conditions, believe it or not.”

Kevin stopped in his tracks. “You mean to tell me that the Proto-Worm evolves on the fly, depending on whatever conditions it finds itself in?”

She nodded.

“That’s....that’s incredible. What kind of timeframe are we talking about here?”

“About fourteen weeks.”

That made Kevin’s head spin and ache. “So....not only do they evolve on the fly to suit whatever environmental conditions they find themselves in, but they do it in fourteen weeks? That’s unheard of!”

“I wonder what would happen if we put a ProtoWorm in an entirely different environment?” Velociryx asked quietly.

They both looked at him for a moment.

“In space, perhaps? Would it evolve into a new “fourth” kind of Worm, or would it simply die out?”

“You’re really onto something there.” Kevin said thoughtfully. “It might be that the ProtoWorm’s evolutionary patterns are pre-programmed to account for the most common conditions here on Planet, which is why it can execute them so quickly, but if faced with a truly different environment, it wouldn’t fare any better than any other creature.” He sighed heavily. “So many questions....you’re right Gayle, we really *do* have a lot to do.”

“You don’t know the half of it.” She said with a smile. “But that’s why we’re here....and speaking of being here, I present the Xeno Zoo.”

They rounded a corner in the expansive corridor they had been walking in and found themselves standing before a massive archway, flanked on both sides by exquisitely manicured Xeno-Fungus stalks. What made it all the more interesting was the fact that the stalks were of several different colors. The standard dusty red of course, and a pale yellow, deep green, something close to burgundy, deep purple, and even a pale blue. A staggering array of colors.

“But why haven’t we seen....” Kevin started to ask, but Gayle simply shook her head and pulled them with her through the archway and into the zoo.
***

It was staggering.

Beyond words.

Kevin suddenly found himself quite glad that he had his wrist-comm with him, and the cam-unit was functioning, because the images he recorded took the place of the words he simply couldn’t find.

The plant life catalogued was staggering. All the different colors of XenoFungus. The strange, leafy tubers and vines which constituted the Monsoon jungle. Fungal Coral from the seabeds, strange hybrid FungalFlowers from the higher elevations (Gayle referred to these as “Poppies,” which were her favorite flower, and they really *did* look a bit like Poppies). A multitude of rare and wonderful plants from all over Chiron.

And then on to animals, and oh God the animals he saw.

Rock-Beetles, giant, sometimes luminous “jelly fish” which looked uncannily like Isles of the deep (a built in defense? If so, a defense from what?). As Kevin watched them swimming lazily through the waters of the tanks which served as their home, he realized that many of the so-called “sightings” of Isles of the Deep were most likely these Jelly Fish creatures, which explained why when the “Isles” were spotted, the ship in question managed to make good its escape. Kevin had often raised a skeptical eyebrow at such tales, but now he thought he understood.

But there were yet more. Magma Mites (which looked curiously like Seahorses, actually), which thrived in the hot springs in and around Mount Planet and the Uranium Flats, and even more amazingly, a variant of the Mites which thrived in the Magma itself! Ice Worms, very much like their Earth counterparts, save for the fact that they survived on nutrients trapped in Ice Floes near the polar regions. Giant Spike Fish with armor-like skin, which swam alone and without any fear of anything. (And, Kevin noted with some satisfied amusement, their overall shape was very similar to the needlejet design he’d seen over at the Transportation Division....seems like somebody had been fishing...) Strange and tiny bird-like creatures, only a few millimeters in size. It was they who spread the microscopic Fungal spores from place to place. “Fuzzy Fish,” who were coated with thick “hair” (for lack of a better word to describe it) which offered them some protection from the deadly tentacles of the Jelly Fish creatures.

Gayle was right. Chiron was not as biologically diverse as Earth had been, but the system of interlocking abilities and defenses of each creature that made up Planet’s Eco-system was nothing short of amazing. It was easy to see how some of the creatures (like the birds) fit into the scheme of things. Other creatures were less easily placed. What purpose did the Fuzzy Fish serve, for example?

“Or the beetles?” He asked her. “I’m not sure I *get* them.”

Gayle shook her head. “The creatures are simply on display here....there’s no information on what overall purpose they might serve to the Eco-system as a whole, but they do explain a good number of things.”

She could see his mind turning on the subject, even as she spoke. “Yes....the strange rocky areas....”

“Right....it always seemed anomalous to us before, because we couldn’t figure the erosion patterns....we’d have an area of extreme rockiness right in the middle of a ridgeline in a very advanced stage of erosion....it didn’t make any sense.”

“But these creatures....these beetles....”

“Feed on soil nutrients and excrete the rocks....those areas of rockiness are....”

“Like a litter box to them.”

Gayle laughed at that. “Something like that, I suppose.”

Amazing.

It was all so intricate....so beautiful. Standing in the Xeno-Zoo and admiring the different and reclusive creatures of Planet made them all the more mindful that there was a pattern here. A vast and subtle, complex pattern, and they were just beginning to find the edges of it. Thoughts of what the pattern as a whole might reveal were as terrifying to consider as they were fascinating.

Gayle and Kevin walked from exhibit to exhibit, holding hands and talking about the different animals and their theories on what role they might play in the greater scheme of things. It was three or more hours before they realized that Velociryx was not with them.

When they realized though, it hit them at the same moment.

“Vel?” Kevin called out softly, suddenly feeling much too small and exposed in much too large a place.

“Vel?” Gayle called out as well, louder than Kevin. He winced when he heard that strange hollow sound in her voice. It reminded him that, wonderful as she was, she was still....*alien* to them somehow.

Different.

Changed.

Without his conscious mind even realizing it, his hand strayed briefly over the shredder pistol tucked beneath his shirt, taking a measure of comfort from its presence.
***

Velociryx sat at the console in the small “office building” just inside the Zoo, eyes locked on what passed for a monitor. Actually, it was a clear jelly-filled square perhaps two inches in diameter, but when you focused on it, it seemed to positively *loom* before the viewer. No eyestrain here.

His brain was straining though. Whirring frantically as he continued his attempts to decipher at least some portion of the Builder Language.

Even if Kevin didn’t realize it yet, there were a number of things wrong, and for the first time since he’d begun communing with Planet, he began to doubt the wisdom of coming here. What if Planet saw all Human life as being akin to a nettlesome parasite? What if it was all an elaborate ploy to destroy them? The more he thought about it, the more likely that seemed. The MindWorms made very efficient killing machines, and with Hercules about to make it’s closest approach of the century, their activity would pick up enormously....

*Wait a minute....how the hell did I know that?* He thought to himself.

And then it hit him.

He didn’t know it all. He read it. Or....something.

He looked back at the screen.

Focused on it.

All gibberish.

Then how....

But somehow he understood. It was hovering at the edge of his awareness, but he knew.

Frame of mind? Opening himself up to....what?

He tried the same routines which enabled him to commune with Planet, focused on the Alien Computer.

Nothing.

Tried *communing* with Planet.

Nothing there, either.

Frustrated, he turned his attention back to the monitor, and his brain shot off again trying to decipher what all the strange characters meant.
***

Kevin realized one of the things Velociryx had realized earlier. Something was definitely wrong. It had eluded him for a while, but when it came smashing down on him, it nearly took his breath away.

“Gayle....”

She turned to look at him, smiling.

“The Builders have been gone for....”

“Best guess, a million and a half years.” Still smiling. That was important. That was good....at least he hoped.

He nodded. “And all the animals in the Xeno-Zoo....they’re all from this iteration....”

The smile began to fade, replaced by a look of genuine confusion in Gayle’s eyes, and then understanding.

“....Even if we assume that they’re needs are somehow being met by the Monolith computer, who brought them here to begin with?”

“I....” Her voice was cut off abruptly, and something began to change.

The color drained out of her face, and her eyes darkened.

Kevin took a step backwards and filled his lungs to capacity. “Velociryx!”

The Dark-eyed creature who had occupied Gayle’s body stepped toward him, and then another.

Reflexively, almost in a panic, Kevin fumbled for the Shredder Pistol at his belt.



[This message has been edited by Velociryx (edited June 29, 1999).]