Norahs:
The Alien's Caretaker


EXCERPT

 

Prologue

"As your chosen leader, I must declare that without the guidance of our ancestors, our future survival would damn well be impossible! As you are certainly aware, through the tragedies they suffered has come imperative knowledge handed down from generation to generation. Those facts have laid the path to a new beginning at our feet!"

Yendor Hcaor inhaled deeply, hesitated, and exhaled. He swung a slow calculating gaze over the gathered throng of perhaps four dozen individuals, through the semi-inky darkness of slimy water. Only by appearing arrogant in poise and positive of his facts, would it be possible to maintain his new leadership status. This information too had been handed down from those long since deceased. However, coming from a family of physically fit stubborn individuals didn't hurt either.

Struggling to outwit monstrous sized creatures to prevent a holocaust had been the bane of existence for all Norahs. They were forced to migrate semi regularly, depending on circumstances. At one time or another they'd attempted to live in other wet locations, such as swamps, rivers, lakes, only to find that numerous varieties of fishes had voracious appetites that had put a tremendous dent in the Norah population. Finally, five years ago, they had ended up where they now were.

Yet, there were still problems, problems caused by decree. It did not appear as if their situation would be getting any easier, at least not in the foreseeable future. So it was up to those of superior receptive abilities to interpret ancestral dilemmas and turn them into success. Otherwise, every last Norah was doomed.

"Excuse me, Mr. Hcaor!" a voice from the gathered throng suddenly called out. Drawde's mandibles clacked, antennae vibrating with impatience to be recognized.

Swiftly snapping out of mental drifting, an intelligent leader bowed low, his round green face expressionless. He crooned, "Yendor, please call me, Yendor. There is no reason to be formal. We are gathered here in the interest of survival."

"Yendor, then," replied with a relaxed grin. "What I would like to know, is if there is anyway of capturing one of the enemy? By doing so, perhaps we could experiment and find a way of eradicating them once and for all."

Sighing regretfully, Yendor stood up to his full one sixteenth of an inch height, struck a military pose, and murmured, "There have been those that tried, alone and as a tactical unit. The results were disastrous for all of them. It only brought about violent retaliation in the form of open warfare. The humanoid creatures of this planet are obviously stronger than we are, and take great pleasure in stomping our asses! Then they increase deadly chemical usage!"

"But compared to them, we are so small they should not be able to see us!" Yekcim shouted defiantly, all six of her spindly legs held at awkward angles to her elongated body.

"What they should not do, and what the humanoids do, are often the same," Yendor stated factually. Extending his right-handed, three elbow jointed arm like appendage, he used the pincer on its end to pick up a glob of algae and eat it in a single gulp. "You saw what I just did? It is the algae that comes to the attention of our enemies, not us!"

"But we need the algae to survive," protested a feminine voice from the edge of the crowd. When other Norahs murmured in agreement, Ymmas nodded knowingly.

Another concerned individual expressed her views. "Yes, Yendor. We can not sit idly by and let the humans get away with killing us off because we must remain near our food supply! The devastating battle generations ago nearly destroyed everyone of our ancestors. Those of our kind that had been left alive suffered a great deal, to die prematurely because of their injuries. They would not want us to..."

"Hold on there! Everyone knows that!" Yendor asserted wisely. He grunted impatiently. "Leave it to a typical female to rattle off track! I fully realize the danger we're all in, which is why I have called this meeting. I for one am tired of living in a murky swamp. This pond we are in now is only the first area we have been able to gain control over. Ancestral wisdom dictates mass invasion to other areas as our only chance. The world is big. It is out there just waiting for us to assert ourselves, and claim every last inch!" He shook both of his pincers above his head for emphasis, appendages stiff and rigid.

"Then if those long gone relatives were right about everything, how come they are ancestors, dead ancestors, instead of alive and here with us today?" yet another intelligent individual spoke up, very loud and clear. Luap shouldered his way through the crowd to a front line position.

Yendor didn't quite know what to say. "Well, nobody lives forever!" he blurted lamely, fighting a helpless shrug.

"I beg your pardon!" a particularly large Norah bellowed in challenge, opening his mandibles wide, snapping them shut in front of his twitching maw. He stared indignantly at his leader. "We should reconsider our ancestors' decision to overtake planet Earth. It is not for you to declare that we should continue fighting a hopeless battle. It is impossible to return to our foundation planet, so we must change. We must learn to get along with the humans on their own turf!"

"But, Eiggam," Yendor shouted back, "you do not know what I have in mind. Most humans are a hazard to the Universes, however some actually have genuine merit."

"Name one!" Asil requested from her seat on a water logged leaf that had sunk to the bottom of the pond. She glared, one compound eye squinting.

"I have not yet learned the name of the human I have chosen, but I shall. In the meantime, let us suffice to say that she compares admirably with the qualities necessary in a superb caretaker."

"Please explain further," Htebazile challenged. She fluttered her all but useless wings, causing currents to move the antennae of Ikciv and Knarf, who were standing on either side of her.

Yendor snorted, prematurely nodding to agree with himself. "Some of them spend a great deal of time taking care of lessor creatures. They go out of their way to nurture the helpless, many times at personal expense."

"Yes, perhaps in some cases," Drawde snarled from beside him, folded wings shifting along the length of his body in irritation as he spoke. "So how do we know that the human we have seen near this pond home of ours will be willing to help us? I believe it is a female, and human females are unpredictable when..."

"Drawde, Drawde, Drawde, Drawde," Yendor crooned to interrupt him. "This particular human must possess a kind spirit or she would not have left us alone to overtake the pond. She could have used chemicals to destroy us!"

"I agree, to a certain extent!" Luap shrilled loudly, while tossing his head in meaningful arrogance, his antennae waving wildly. "We can not be certain what her motives have actually been. Perhaps she does not know that we are here? Or perhaps she is too lazy to war with us? We should not risk choosing her just because she is handy. There have to be other humans close by to consider. We should search them out!"

Yendor groaned, solidly. "What an ignorant bastard you are! It would be impossible for us to charge forward on a scouting mission without a tremendous loss of life. Even then there would not be a guarantee of finding a human more suitable. You would be wiser to vote that we consider staying where we are and make the best of things!"

"So we, somehow, someway, coerce this human female to help us wipe out her species?" Luap demanded to know.

Yendor set out to swiftly justify his plan, both of his compound eyes squinting through the murky gloom of slimy pond water. "The embryo egg sacks of our ancestors were broadcast on this planet centuries ago by Earth time. Generations of humans have been born, survived, expired of old age. Because our kind have stupidly stayed in the water, we have yet to have caused more than a few deaths. Those of us who managed to get into the drinking water supply were killed by chemicals, or caught in the filtration systems, to die en mass."

"I agree that we must find another way to eradicate the humans," Asil insisted. Pounding one of her pincers against the other for emphasis, the leaf she was sitting on shifted, and she nearly floated off of it.

Yendor nodded agreeably. "Naturally I agree with what you say. But, to accomplish our goals, I strongly suggest that we infiltrate a lessor life form. One that is capable of being mobile."

"Norahs are mobile!" an indigent voice shouted in protest.

"Mobile to fly only occasionally. We must live in water, water that contains algae for us to feed on. What I meant, if all of you will kindly shut up long enough for me to finish, is for us to overtake the first available specie of creatures. From within."

"Ahhhhh," Drawde murmured happily, finally grasping what their leader was getting at. "Now I know what you mean. We put ourselves into the position where by the female human can be of assistance. We use her to overcome our host's limitations!"

"Correct." A somewhat sad expression crossed Yendor's face. "Unfortunately, in the process of survival, Norahs will be forced to eat things other than algae. Protein in any form will have to suffice. In addition, we may lose our ability to speak out loud. If that should happen, resort to mental communication. One other thing, no one, but no one, emerges until I give the command!"

"I do not see a major problem with what you have said. We shall succeed! We shall learn to change, and we will multiply!" Eiggam stated emphatically.

"We will also learn to control our transportation host. The host will become larger because we order it to grow. It will multiply because as we grow, we will need more space. Eventually we shall each have our own host. When we become large enough, we shall cast them aside!" Yendor declared in no uncertain terms, clacking his mandibles forcefully.

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