"He is my first friend here on planet Orlon, I named him Ningal. They're a really long lived species. Some are as old as three thousand years I'm told. But, from the Mauka I found the lizard tribes. They made peace with such a carnivorous creature!
So that's what I'm here to tell you all today. Mauka are still dangerous though. I've written some interaction guidelines for them should you want to befriend a hatchling of your own.
People of Ukin, seem to have what I could only describe as a family Mauka. Entire generations have had one Mauka by their side.
I understand that up until recently they were considered 'monsters', but I encourage you all to at least give them a try. They'll even work for you, pulling ploughs, and even carriages.
Sure it may not have the same impact as servants, but, at first, not everybody will be able to afford them. It'll be a luxury to have a Mauka as a companion."
Matsuko Solvune 1110
The ship shook with a violent jolt, knocking Matsuko to the floor.
Wind whistled through an unseen pressure differential, indicating a breech. He could survive just fine without any atmosphere, but his guests would be another aspect.
Quickly however, the breach caused a purple vapour to flow into the room.
“Crap, crap, what the hell is that?” The ship’s scanners could not trace the origin of the material, nor the effects. Functionally, he had no need for his lungs anymore, but they still existed.
Despite repeated attempts to vent the gas, it would not clear, and finally made its way into the control room. He did not panic, of course, due to the fact that, thankfully, there was a planet below him.
He breathed in the gas, which had an immediate effect. His vision started to blur, and his body felt extremely heavy. It was quite surprising due to all of the gravity training he did, which set of massive warning signs for him.
Atmospheric entry did not go smoothly. The ship had suffered more damage than he, and thus, he was only able to set a crash landing point by adjusting the thruster vectors, and hoping for the best.
Around fifteen minutes into his descent---he couldn’t be sure, nor could he remember---into the entry, the thrusters malfunctioned. Now that he was closer he did one final scan, as the rest of the ship still had functionality. There was no way for him to assess the damage of the impact, but there was also nothing he could do about it. With the crash site set up, there was only one thing left for him to do.
Matsuko chuckled maniacally as the ship fell down to the planet below. "No sign---" He stopped himself with a sigh. He was alone. There we no signs of advanced life on the planet, but there were plenty of biological signatures that indicated a world teeming with flora and fauna.
….
Matsuko finally woke from his gas induced slumber, due to being nudged and nibbled on by an unknown presence. A voice spoke to him, in a simple matter, meant to convey the point quickly and efficiently. “Are you living?”
“What… uh, well, yes I am alive, currently anyway. If you eat me I won’t be. Generally I’d like to avoid that.” He opened his eyes to reveal a creature that was relatively towering over, at least while he was on his back. He counted six legs on the creature, with cloven hooves attached to very strong muscles. They were clearly designed for running, beit long distances, or short sprints. It had a long tail as well, about half a meter meter by visual estimation compared to the rest of the creature, which put its overall length at five meters. Having no context for what stage of life this creature was, there were many possible scenarios as to why such a creature would be alone, and not in a group.
The facial features of the creature were quite familiar, as many of them were similar in design to creatures found on Earth. Its ears were relatively large compared to its head, which gave him the indication that they were perhaps more inclined to be able to hear from vast distances. The creature had six pairs of optical receptors that lay four on the front of the face, and two on the top, more toward the side and back of the head. It had a long, and broad, with nostrils at least a large coin in size, and a very deep cavity.
The strangest observation was that the creature had both fur and scales. They were dark and patterned much like the leaves of the surrounding area, which would play well with the surrounding forest of the area, especially during night time hunts.
His scientific observation was abruptly halted when the creature spoke to him again.
“You are speaking to myself?” The creature was taken aback, which revealed to Matsuko just how unusual a situation he’d landed himself into. At the very least, it seemed that the creatures on this planet that were capable of sapient speech, but many of the creatures of the planet were not.
“I can, yes, is that unusual?” It was very useful to be able to understand the creatures of the planet in order to be able to establish relationships that would last for however long he chose to remain.
“The tailed ones cannot speak with us as you do, or the tailless.” With that being the case, he had a new goal in mind. Find the tailed ones and tailless ones and see what level of technological advancement they were currently at, since there were no radio signals, nor was there any light pollution visible from space.
“I see… in that case, I’m in a fortunate situation. I’d like to learn more about you those like you.’
"Who are you? What are you? You don't smell like the other Tailless I've seen."
"You’ve got quite the nose. I'm like the Tailless here. But… I'm lost. Can you please take me to the tailed ones? I mean them no harm. I do have a tail though, see? As for who I am, you can call me Matsuko. Now I ask you, who are you?" He lowered himself slowly to put his body at shoulder level with the new creature, as well as moving his arms behind him.
“We do not have such titles like you, but the tail ones call us, ‘Mauka’. Yes, I will take you to them.” The gesture of putting his arms behind his back, was an act that the Mauka wholly recognised, as it exposed his frontal area for a complete assault. It was an act of faith, that such a creature would not trample him, or as he prescribed to do, eat him after disemboweling him. Matusko, unbeknownst to the Mauka, had steeled his entire form with a layer of inner energy, as a precaution. Since there was no visible reaction to such, he concluded that these creatures, or at least this very particular Mauka, could not sense the energy of others.
“I can move at speed, so feel free to run if it suits you,” he announced, with much relaxation and relief, as he lowered his energy shield finally, “or you can go there and I can track you, it’s your choice.”
“You believe you can match myself? Myself would be quite shocked. Neither the tailed nor the tailless ones can move like us.” Perhaps this species was also competition inclined like his dominant species was.
"Try to outrun me then if you think you can!" The challenge was laid out and the Mauka fully accepted, not having any kind of formal racing procedure it took off with a dash and kicked up dust as it did so.
With a blink, Matsuko was gone from his current position and running slightly behind the Mauka. It didn't turn around but immediately knew he was there without even having a scent to work with due to the wind rushing past casting it away. More study would certainly be needed.
When the finally arrived he stopped short so they could walk into the settlement. How would they react to his clothes? For the time being he chose to pose as a 'tailless' to see the temporary effects. It was only one village after all and if they became hostile he would simply run. But...that would be leaving his only companion on the planet behind. He still needed to know about the basic functionality of the societies he was going to experience.
Throughout the settlement, there were many lizards going about their day, and when one of them caught sight of Matsuko they instantly stopped in their tracks to stare.
"They are um...looking right at me. They aren't hostile are they?"
"They are waiting for myself. They do this act, which is very pleasurable. You should raise your grasper and move it along the front of me."
He chuckled internally at the very strange way that he had just been asked to pet this creature. There was no real word available due to the lizards themselves not using it in front of their creatures. With a carefully slow motion, he reached up to the top of the Mauka's nose and gently rubbed it from the base to the end.
A low rumble came from the throat area as well as lower near toward the center of its back.
It almost looked like the first lizard sighed in relief but he couldn't be sure.
With a bit more confidence, he approached a random lizard. "Hello… I'm lost and trying to find my way around."
"Then find someone else. I'm busy."
At least he wasn't…too…rude but it was better than being attacked or verbally assaulted.
"Excuse me, I'm lost and trying to get some directions."
"Go to the hut, the Mauka is only the first step before you're even considered for any more interaction. You're fortunate even I am. Now go please."
"Thank you. I'll remember your kindness and repay it."
The lizard gave no further acknowledgment, which was fine. He made his way over to the hut described, and was stopped by what obviously were guards.
"State your business."
"I'm really sorry, but I don't know exactly… I was directed to this hut after touching the Mauka. I surmise I am to speak to the Chief, Elder… Council members?" He went through the most common titles for high ranking tribal members.
“You have limited time. Talk fast.” The stern command was accentuated with a threatening reshuffling of the spear, a clear act of intimidation. Despite this, however, Matsuko calmly walked into the hut, much to their surprise, not even paying attention to their spears.
"Hello… I am Matsuko. The Mauka tells me that there are other tailless like me?"
"Greetings Stranger. My name is
Susabi Sharpclaw."
Comments