{"submission_id":"737257","keywords":[{"keyword_id":"554","keyword_name":"alien","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"11923"},{"keyword_id":"1440","keyword_name":"human","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"46903"},{"keyword_id":"10308","keyword_name":"male/male","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"56591"},{"keyword_id":"473","keyword_name":"otter","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"20700"},{"keyword_id":"714","keyword_name":"sci-fi","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"2558"}],"hidden":"t","scraps":"f","favorite":"f","favorites_count":"3","create_datetime":"2014-11-24 23:47:35.334538+01","create_datetime_usertime":"24 Nov 2014 23:47 CET","last_file_update_datetime":"2014-11-24 23:45:32.235054+01","last_file_update_datetime_usertime":"24 Nov 2014 23:45 CET","username":"Aethan","user_id":"6931","user_icon_file_name":"5775_Aethan_cookiebear.gif","user_icon_url_large":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/usericons/large/5/5775_Aethan_cookiebear.gif","user_icon_url_medium":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/usericons/medium/5/5775_Aethan_cookiebear.gif","user_icon_url_small":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/usericons/small/5/5775_Aethan_cookiebear.gif","file_name":"992678_Aethan_worldsong.doc","file_url_full":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/full/992/992678_Aethan_worldsong.doc","file_url_screen":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/992/992678_Aethan_worldsong.doc","file_url_preview":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/992/992678_Aethan_worldsong.doc","thumbnail_url_huge":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/huge/992/992678_Aethan_worldsong.jpg","thumbnail_url_large":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/992/992678_Aethan_worldsong.jpg","thumbnail_url_medium":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/992/992678_Aethan_worldsong.jpg","thumb_huge_x":"200","thumb_huge_y":"170","thumb_large_x":"200","thumb_large_y":"170","thumb_medium_x":"120","thumb_medium_y":"102","files":[{"file_id":"992678","file_name":"992678_Aethan_worldsong.doc","file_url_full":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/full/992/992678_Aethan_worldsong.doc","file_url_screen":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/992/992678_Aethan_worldsong.doc","file_url_preview":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/992/992678_Aethan_worldsong.doc","mimetype":"application/msword","submission_id":"737257","user_id":"6931","submission_file_order":"0","full_size_x":null,"full_size_y":null,"screen_size_x":null,"screen_size_y":null,"preview_size_x":null,"preview_size_y":null,"initial_file_md5":"d68ad74ed667442585fd1bd450768c8d","full_file_md5":"d68ad74ed667442585fd1bd450768c8d","large_file_md5":"","small_file_md5":"","thumbnail_md5":"c669afe921a2da470acb6203c4944bde","deleted":"f","create_datetime":"2014-11-24 23:45:32.235054+01","create_datetime_usertime":"24 Nov 2014 23:45 CET","thumbnail_url_huge":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/huge/992/992678_Aethan_worldsong.jpg","thumbnail_url_large":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/992/992678_Aethan_worldsong.jpg","thumbnail_url_medium":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/992/992678_Aethan_worldsong.jpg","thumb_huge_x":"200","thumb_huge_y":"170","thumb_large_x":"200","thumb_large_y":"170","thumb_medium_x":"120","thumb_medium_y":"102"}],"pools":[],"description":"I wrote this story a ways back for an anthology of alien-human sex. I made it gay and furry of course. I don't think I've ever posted it anywhere, but, hey, if you like human-otter sex, you may enjoy it!","description_bbcode_parsed":"I wrote this story a ways back for an anthology of alien-human sex. I made it gay and furry of course. I don't think I've ever posted it anywhere, but, hey, if you like human-otter sex, you may enjoy it!","writing":"Worldsong\n\nBy Andrew “Aethan” French\n\nThere was, Jiakan mused, something lyrical about the quality of a particularly lazy day. At 23 years, he was still rather young by the standards of the tonokai, but he had risen to become the Tribes’ Master Singer. As a result, he was often left to his own devices. The less powerful Acolytes took care of most of the work; he was called upon for only the most important tasks and rites. He had risen to his high position because the Worldsong was almost always in his ears and heart, and he was able to Sing with a resonance and intensity that was said to rival even the great Liadana of so many generations past.\n\nOn this particularly lyrical day, he was floating on his back in a secluded pond at the edge of the Tribes’ territory. The waving treetops above framed a sky of dazzling blue, and the sun slanted down to warm the pool and his body. When it grew too warm, he Sang the pool’s own Song. When it had begun to Sing with him, he would change the Song, ever-so-subtly, and the pool would follow his lead, and it would grow cooler.\n\nSeveral years back, he had found the diverging cadence of an underground stream branching away from the river’s main melody, and he had followed it beneath the broad-leafed sadao trees, occasionally pausing to put his ear to the ground and make certain the little refrain was piping its secret tune. Eventually its music had burst forth from rocky ground to collect in a deep bowl that it had long-ago worn smooth. Jiakan had claimed this place as his special, hidden camp-site, and, when many days were due to pass between rituals, he would pack some food and go to the pool to have some time away from the other of the Tribes. Like most tonokai, Jiakan was a very social creature. Unlike most of his kind, however, he found the need to hear the Song more clearly compelled him to seek solitude. And so, he lived among his people, but apart from them. He felt that no one place was truly his home, and this often made him sad.\n\nHe was a handsome member of his race, with a short muzzle, a broad nose, small ears, elegant whiskers, and laughing blue eyes. His long body and short limbs were designed to glide through the water at great speed, and these, combined with his webbed hands and feet and long, broad tail made him as good a swimmer as any tonokai. His dense fur covered his body, keeping him warm in the water, and his head-fur was long, spiky, and blond, which was unusual in the Tribes, where head-fur mostly tended to black. His people disdained clothing, unlike the pink, hairless things that had begun to appear on the edges of their territory. The tonokai displayed their pelts proudly, often dying or cutting patterns in their fur as decoration. Although Jiakan sometimes wore a belt for carrying things, in the water he was always naked, and he loved the feeling of the rippling water against all of his extremities.\n\nJiakan closed his eyes, his ears below the waterline, allowing him to listen to the lovely Song of the pool. All tonokai felt their link to the water, but the Singers always felt it best, and he, as the Master Singer, was able to reach out and feel it even more. As he rested, he listened further, hearing, slowly, the Songs of the rivers, stream, rivulets, ponds, pools, and oceans of the world. He felt the other tonokai, all over the world, and gloried in the rich variance their individual Lifesongs brought to the Worldsong itself. For a brief moment, he opened his mouth, letting the Worldsong slide into him, only to press up his throat, over his teeth, and out through his lips, giving voice to the very essence of his world’s being.\n\nThen, with a deep chill, he felt something terrible…a Great Dissonance in the Worldsong. Something was wrong. He sat up, feeling concerned. Something not native to the world was altering the Song, and the World was not pleased at all. He immediately slipped up onto the bank, drew himself up, and scanned all around him, letting the Worldsong enter him again. If something was changing the Song, he needed to know what it was, and try to fix things. He thought of the Tribes. Should he warn them of his possibly prolonged absence? He shook his head. This needed to be dealt with now, and the Acolytes would know how to deal with anything the Tribes might need. Strapping on his belt and taking up his staff, he began following the sound of the dissonance south, towards the coast.\n\n*\t\t*\t\t*\n\nDale Carr hid behind the thick trunk of a tree and tried to make his breath come in something quieter than the rasping chokes he’d been emitting for the last few minutes. He was woefully out of shape, he knew, and he cursed himself for not taking better care of his body. Those cigarettes, he mused. Barry always said they would kill me. Of course, I don’t think he had this particular scenario in mind when he said it. Dale tried to bring his labored breathing under control, as he ran through the events of the last two months in his head.\n\nHe’d come as part of the Isis Project, as their team xeno-biologist and ecologist. He’d been so excited when the prospect had come up. He would be part of the first team to explore a planet outside of Earth’s solar system. He would walk on the surface of another world and one which, if their probes were any indication, was inhabited by a primitive humanoid sentient race. Mankind was making its first confirmed contact with an alien species, and he would be there! How could he have done anything but accept the mission?\n\nThen things had begun to bottom out. The Horus III had blown up during testing, killing the test crew, including Teri O’Reilly, the actress turned astronaut who was America’s sweetheart. America’s confidence and interest in the space program declined to a new all-time low, and it seemed that Isis might be shelved for good. When the multi-billion dollar donation had come in from Damon Gates, the so-called “World’s Richest Man”, with the only stipulation that three of Gates’ agents would go on the first flight, NASA had accepted. Now, Dale realized, it had been a deal with the devil.\n\nTheir worm-hole jump had been textbook perfect and the landing almost suspiciously routine. Testing had begun on the native flora and fauna, and he’d begun to analyze their relationships. This world, which the Earth scientists had dubbed, Nova Eden, occupied the second solar orbit, the equivalent of roughly halfway between where Venus and Earth orbited Sol. It was like a whole world comprised of oceans and rainforests, and Dale had hoped to find more info about the relationships between rainforest inhabitants in order to preserve Earth’s last vanishing rainforest. He had found that everything seemed to exist in a delicate symbiosis, connected through various ways. It’s like a tower made of blocks. Each block is holding the tower up. Remove one and you may be okay. Remove enough and the whole tower falls. He had busied himself in discovering just what blocks could be removed, and which ones were essential.\n\nIt hadn’t been all work, though. Dale had quickly realized that one of Gates’ men, a hunky bearish-type named Gus Groszmann, was also gay and interested in him. He and Groszmann had become lovers after planetfall, and they had spent most of the mission’s nights in sweaty ecstasy in their joined sleeping-module. Although sexual liaisons between crew were officially frowned upon, Gus had displayed his vast ability with computers by actually rewriting the computer’s log of what was happening within their private quarters. \n\nDale had to fight down his rage as he thought of Gus. Bastard betrayed me…fucked me more thoroughly than ever with his clothes still on. Gus had been called into a meeting with the other Gates men at least once a week, and Gus seemed reluctant to talk to him about what they were discussing. Out of curiosity, Dale turned on Gus’s two-way before he went into his meeting. In horror, Dale overheard Gus and the others discuss the strip-mining and exploitation of New Eden. He could not believe his ears. What’s worse, they were using data that he himself had collected in order to decide what the richest areas for development were. Afterwards, over a private dinner in their module, he asked Gus about what had been discussed at their meeting.\n\nGus shrugged. “Nothing special. Same as always. Why?”\n\n“Just curious, You spend so much time at meetings; you must be discussing a lot of interesting, difficult matters.”\n\nGus shook his head. “Pretty dull, routine stuff,” he said.\n\nIt had been that cold dismissal of what they were discussing that had shocked Dale. Was this the routine stuff? The destruction of an alien eco-system? If that was it, then he wanted out. He confronted Gus with what he knew. “How could you?” he asked the bigger man. “There are people here! They don’t look like humans, but that doesn’t make them not people! If you take from this place what earth needs to live, it will die! Everything in the rainforest is connected by a web. If you break the strands of the web, this place will start to die!”\n\nGus’s face had gone cold, then. “That’s not my concern,” he said. “I have my own mission, and I intend to fulfill it.”\n\nDale rose. “I’ll report you to Captain Inman. He’ll stop this mission of yours.”\n\nAs Dale headed for the door, Gus sprinted to his desk and pulled out a pistol. “I don’t think so,” he said, soft and menacingly. Dale froze, staring at the gun. It was a class-Y disrupter, a highly illegal device. One blast from that and there would be no more Dale Carr, as well as no more gun. The class-Y models were designed to break into component molecules, to make them untraceable. He stared at the gun, then looked up at Gus. He had been falling in love with this man, he’d thought, and now he was going to die for it.\n\nJust then, the door to his cabin had opened, and a member of the engineering crew had entered, mouth open to make a report. Dale made a leap for the door, and Gus had fired. Dale had been missed, but the other crewman was not so fortunate. He screamed only once as he was reduced to his components, resulting in a messy puddle on the floor and a whiff of ozone in the air. Dale ran, desperate to make it to the captain’s quarters. As he ran, an announcement came over the ship’s intercom. Attention, all personnel. All personnel are requested to report the whereabouts of Xeno-Ecologist Dale Carr. Carr is wanted for questioning regarding the discharge of an illegal weapon and the slaying of a crewman in his quarters. Repeat…\n\nAs the message repeated, Dale knew he was doomed. If he allowed himself to be taken in, he would likely suffer a fatal accident at the hands of another Gates man. If he ran, he would be seen as guilty. Either way, he was screwed. Choosing the option that didn’t see him dead, he fled the ship before access to the outside world was cut off. He’d run for several hours before reaching a spot and hiding, but, this morning, he’d heard the whine of flyers and knew they were trying to track him down. As a result, he was running again.\n\nHaving regained his breath, he ran along the stream-bed, the water around his ankles, knowing that this would confuse the DNA-trackers by sweeping his genetic “scent” downstream. He’d mentally picked out a series of forested streams and pools as the best place for him to get lost and evade pursuit. Once things were settled down, he knew they’d view the computer’s log of what had happened, but he also knew that Gus was likely to have been rewriting that log, in case they had sex. Odds were that he’d never be able to rejoin the human race. He sighed. There were worse alternatives. Humans hadn’t exactly proved to be the most trustworthy creatures he’d ever met. Upstream, there was fruit and nuts and fish and game, not to mention tons of fresh water. He didn’t have all his instruments, but he had his knowledge. He was confident he could survive in the jungle indefinitely, until he was somehow able to communicate with the Captain and explain his innocence. He began running north, into the interior.\n\n*\t\t*\t\t*\n\nJiakan paused and felt for the river’s Song. He could still feel the disturbances, and they were closer. He paused to rest in the roots of a baldano tree, catching a fish hiding in the reeds there and eating it raw. He smiled; although he was perfectly capable of Singing the fish up out of the river, he preferred to keep his other skills honed, in case he didn’t have the Song to fall back on, sometime. He pondered his position and the meaning of the Song. He judged there was a waterfall ahead, of some height. He smiled at the prospect of seeing rainbows dancing in the spray and listening to their bell-like coloratura. The world was so beautiful, even without the Song. With the Song within him, it was made twice more so. He Sang, softly, all the beauty around him, because it simply had to have Voice. All around him, the forest and the river trembled to hear their Song echoed back at them. When he finished, he barked a laugh in pleasure.\n\nHis Singing and his fish both finished, he pulled himself back up and followed the river south. His instincts told him he would find the disturbance soon, and he intended to smooth the ripples as soon as possible.\n\n*\t\t*\t\t*\n\nDale was exhausted, and he felt a rattling in his chest. Was he far enough away? Had he evaded trackers and flyers alike? He turned to look around him. The jungle seemed placid and quiet, except for a roaring from the north. What was it that he was hearing? A waterfall? If it were a waterfall, perhaps the pool below it would be a good place to rest and camp. If he had evaded his pursuit, it might be as good a place as any to live.\n\nHe forced himself the last leg of the journey and emerged from the foliage to a glorious sight. The waterfall, fully two-hundred feet tall, was cascading mightily down from the rocks above. Below it, a large basin filled with the churning water before it was sent south as the river he’d been following. Small jewel-like insects resembling dragonflies flitted above its surface, while large fish swam in the basin and broke the surface to catch the flies. Rainbows danced in the spray, and Dale smiled. Eden, indeed. \n\nSuddenly, a strange, unearthly sound rose over the roaring of the falls, and Dale was startled from his reverie. He’d never heard anything like it, except that it echoed, in some small way, the songs of the long-extinct humpback whales of Earth. His eyes rose up, and, at the top of the falls, he saw an extraordinary figure. He recognized it at once as once of the otter-like indigenous humanoids their probes had discovered living here. It appeared to be naked, except for a broad belt with several pouches on it, and it carried a staff. It was singing, and the sound sent a little thrill up and down Dale’s spine. It was an electric moment, and Dale was transfixed by the weird, unearthly beauty of the scene and the song.\n\nWhen the singer’s voice died away, Dale cupped his hands to his mouth and called, “Hullo!” The figure seemed very startled, and turned to see the source of the call. Dale waved his arms at the figure. If someone was going to make contact, it might as well be him. Maybe the creature and its people could help him in some way. Or maybe they’d try to kill him, too. This thought came to Dale too late, and his waving faltered, but, a moment later, the figure raised the hand not carrying the staff and waved back, displaying his bright white teeth in his brown face. “I hope that’s a smile,” Dale muttered to himself, smiling back.\n\nThe snap of a twig behind him caused him to turn. The Captain stood there, as did Gus, both with normal side-arm blasters in their hands, trained on him. “Well,” said Gus. “Thanks for calling. We heard that weird noise, and then your shout. I think we might’ve walked right past you without that. So thank you.”\n\n“Fuck you,” Dale growled. “Captain Inman, listen. I didn’t kill that engineer. Groszmann had a class-Y disrupter. He rewrote the computer log for the room. We were lovers.”\n\nThe Captain shook his head. “Stow it, Carr. You could’ve been a part of all this, but you just had to cause trouble. We could’ve all been rich, the saviors of a dying Earth, but you’re such a damned bleeding-heart that you couldn’t bear the idea of it, could you?” He spat in the water.\n\nDale blinked. “You’re on their payroll, aren’t you?” he said, after a moment. “You’re in on it. All of it.” Jesus Christ, Captain. The knowledge we could’ve taken from here would’ve been enough to repair the world. We don’t have to destroy this place to repair Earth.”\n\nGus sneered. “When would that be? A hundred years from now? Get current, Dale. We want to be rich in this life, not spiritually fulfilled in the next. Countries will pay Gates trillions for the resources we can strip from this planet, and we’ll have a percentage of that. It’s like a big all-you-can-eat buffet.” He kept his blaster trained on the ecologist. “Sorry, baby. We could’ve been set up for a hundred lifetimes over. Pity you had to go and develop a conscience and a spine. That kind of shit can be fatal, you know.”\n\nAll three men looked up startled as a voice called from atop the waterfall. The otter-like native was waving his staff above his head. “The Hell..?” Inman said.\n\n“Local inhabitant,” Groszmann sneered. “I’ll take care of it.” He raised his blaster, taking aim.\n\nSuddenly, Dale turned and dove into the pool. Groszmann and Inman both began firing their blasters. One shot hit him in the shoulder and the other in the leg, but then he was underwater, and the water began diffusing their blasts. They could see Carr struggling to swim deeper underwater, his blood clouding the pool around him. Groszmann pulled out a plastisteel utility knife. “I’ll finish this,” he said, striding into the pool, the native creature forgotten.\n\n*\t\t*\t\t*\n\nJiakan had reached the waterfall, looked around, and been overjoyed by the beauty he saw. Once again, he’d felt the need to let the Worldsong flow through his lips and to be transcended by that music for one brief moment. He had been shocked, however, by the voice calling to him from below. It was one of the furless strangers that had been spotted wandering through the forest. The creature had looked so tall and awkward, and it made him smile. He had raised his arm, then, and waved back, only to see two more pinklings emerge from the brush. He had started down the slope towards them to speak with them in person, when he’d felt something wrong. The Lifesongs of two were discordant and harsh, while the first one’s Lifesong was running through crescendos of fear. Something was not as it seemed.\n\nAs he got closer, he saw the two new pinklings hold strange sticks. To his horror, these objects had no true Songs of their own, but only a twisted version of the Sun’s Song! He cried out, then. “Throw those away!” he tried to warn them. “They are Dissonance!” The pink creatures had seemed startled to see him, and one had raised his stick to focus it on him. He let the Worldsong rise within him, ready to counteract the Dissonance he felt rising below him. But, then, the first pinkling had taken refuge in the water, and the others had unleashed their Dissonance at their comrade. It made no sense! Why would these creatures do this? Surely they did not eat each other? Horrified, Jiakan had watched while one brought out an object that had no Song at all! It resembled a knife, but there was no Song in it. The pinkling with the Songless knife walked into the water towards the first one, who’s Song had become fractured and Discordant, in the manner of one in pain and distress.\n\nJiakan had seen enough; he knew a Dissonance when he saw one, even if these were not the Great Dissonance he had felt, earlier. Gathering the refrains of the Worldsong into him, he Sang up the River, and the River answered, its Song rising to cut off the Dissonance in its midst. Casting aside belt and staff, Jiakan dove deep into the pool, gripping the wounded pinkling and dragging him deep as the water rose.\n\n*\t\t*\t\t*\n\nInman saw the otter-thing dive deeply into the water and grab Carr, dragging him deeper. He opened his mouth to call to Groszmann, and it remained hanging open in stunned horror. Before he could cry any warning to Groszmann, the river above the waterfall surged upwards into a spontaneous wall of water, some twenty feet high, and smashed both men against the rocks. Their bodies were carried downstream by the raging torrent and dumped out into the ocean approximately two hours later. In the wake of the watery wall, the River returned to its serene, calm state.\n\n*\t\t*\t\t*\n\nDale awoke, briefly, to see that he was in some kind of cave. He could see flickering firelight reflected off glistening walls, and he heard the dull roar of the waterfall. Pain shot through him as he tried to move, reminding him of the wounds he’d sustained. If he didn’t get some kind attention soon, he’d die. He tied to move again, and a ragged groan of pain was torn from his lips. Immediately, he heard bare feet flapping on stone. He turned his head and saw the otter-thing he’d seen above the waterfall looking concerned. It really is uncanny how expressive their faces are, Carr mused. They almost seemed human.\n\nThe otter-creature spoke in a foreign, oddly-musical language. It knelt by him, gently put its paw on his good shoulder, and pressed him down onto the mossy floor. Dale felt his eyes fluttering. “If you’re telling me I should sleep,” he groaned, “I’m in complete agreement.” He closed his eyes, lay back, and passed out again.\n\n*\t\t*\t\t*\n\nJiakan frowned. He didn’t understand the furless one’s words, but he knew the pink creature was badly injured. He had made certain that the river’s fury did not touch the injured furless pinkling, and then had dragged it to this hidden cave behind the waterfall. He chewed sweet binto leaves into a pulp and tried to make a poultice for the fleshy thing. A more thorough examination told him the bintos were wasted. Although his initial instinct was to simply let the creature heal naturally, these wounds were like nothing Jiakan had seen before. They looked as if arrows of fire had passed through the pinkling’s body, burning holes as they went. Jiakan sighed. If he wanted this thing to survive, he had to Sing it back to health, and quickly.\n\nHe rubbed at his whiskers, thoughtfully. Did he want this creature to survive? It was wearing a strange artificial skin over its body, and this skin had no Song to it. But still, he’d felt this one’s Song, and it was different…gentler somehow than the Songs of those who had brought the other Dissonances into his territory. He had no remorse for what he’d done to the humans; he only regretted that he’d had to stir the river’s Song to such violence. He had never considered doing such a thing before, but he could not allow the Dissonance to continue. He had put enough force into it that the pinklings and their Songless knives and skins would be swept out into the ocean, where all other Songs were swallowed in the great Symphony of the Deep Places.\n\nHe touched the pinkling’s face. Its skin was a ruddy, tanned color, and the fur on its head was almost jet black, like most tonokai. It was stocky, with a slight paunch to its belly, and a certain chubbiness to its face that made the Singer smile. In addition, there was something strangely familiar and appealing about its Lifesong, as alien as it was. The wounded pinkling moaned, again, as it moved in its sleep. Jiakan sighed, set his jaw, and made up his mind. He would help this ugly, furless creature, but only on his terms. He first took out his clamshell knife and slowly, carefully, began cutting away the false Songless skin that the pinkling wore. He stripped the odd, alien cloth away from the furless one’s body and saw that he did have fur, but only very sparsely. In addition to the fur on its head, it had a light dusting of fur over its chest, all of it black, but short and quite curly, with a path leading down to the groin, which seemed most heavily furred of all the creature’s body areas. It was a male, Jiakan noticed, and he touched its genitalia, curiously. It seemed to have no sheath over its penis, but to simply hang down when flaccid. “No wonder you cover yourself with strange furs,” he murmured, with a smile. “How embarrassing to be gliding through the water with that dangling between your legs.” He noticed also the creature’s lack of proper whiskers or any manner of tail. He shook his head. How could such a helpless creature survive? It didn’t even have claws!\n\nJiakan closed his eyes and listened to the male pinkling’s Song. It was a fairly simple one, but very odd, and Jiakan had some difficulty picking up the tune. He began to Sing it aloud, and he felt, rather than heard, when the furless humanoid’s body reluctantly began to match his Singing. Once he had the two Songs aligned, he slowly changed what he was Singing and let the creature’s body Sing along. He Sang it towards perfect health, but, although the creature’s body followed the tonokai‘s lead, the results were sluggish and not nearly as potent as they might be. He barely managed to close the wounds slightly before his voice faltered and sputtered out like a candle-flame.\n\nAs Jiakan finished, he moaned a bit himself, his head whirling and his guts in a knot. The man’s Song had not been complex, but it had tired him more than even the most complex Songs he knew usually did. There was something strange about the male’s Lifesong. Something alien. It did not seem to relate to the Worldsong of the planet. Jiakan shook his head and muttered, “Don’t know where you’re from, Pinkling, but I’d bet it’s nowhere close to here.” With that, he lay down on the moss beside the furless beast and slowly drifted into slumber.\n\n*\t\t*\t\t*\n\nDale awoke, slowly, feeling a warmth on his side. The firelight was gone, and only a pale light from the cave’s entrance made it possible for him to see. He blinked down at the source of the warmth to find that the otter-thing had fallen asleep, its body pressed to his. Dale shivered. Twenty-four hours ago, he had never seen an alien being. Now, he was being touched by one. He idly wondered if he’d have to go in quarantine as a result of this.\n\nDale moved, slightly, and the creature stirred in its sleep, mumbled something, and then rolled over, one short otterish arm landing across the human’s belly. Dale realized three things at once. Firstly, there was only a dull ache of pain from the two blaster shots he’d taken. Secondly, the otter had an erection, and it was now pressed into his thigh. Thirdly, he was as naked as a jaybird, and the otter’s hand was rather close to his groin. Dale stayed absolutely still, blushing fiercely, as the closeness of contact caused is own penis to stir, slightly. This is certainly an intriguing first contact, he laughed, inwardly. And yet, why do I feel so at ease with this alien creature? As if I’ve known him a long time, already…\n\nThe otter humped a couple of times, his drooling shaft rubbing along Dale’s skin, and then nuzzled Dale’s ear in its sleep, murmuring something, before going still again. Dale moaned, gently, as whiskers and lips tickled his sensitive ear. He could smell the otter’s breath, now, which had a slightly fishy odor to it, but which was largely pleasant. He turned his head a bit and looked at it. It was a handsome enough creature in its own way, which its broad mouth and spiky blond hair. It wriggled again, giving a couple more humps, and then its paw contacted his cock. He groaned loudly, and the creature woke up, sitting up quickly, regarding him with slightly startled green eyes.\n\n“Um…hi,” Dale said, lamely. “My name’s Dale. Thanks for helping me.”\n\nThe otter blinked at him a few times then looked up and down his body, slowly. When it saw his erection, it wrinkled its brow for a moment, and then grinned. “Losta redonesa?”\n\n“Uhhh…sure.” He grinned in what he hoped was a friendly manner. The otter laughed, a short barking sound, and, after a moment, Dale laughed, too. When their laughter stopped, it continued to look him up and down, and then, suddenly, ran a finger over the tip of his cock, much to his surprise, making his whole body shudder. “Oh, my,” Dale breathed. “You’re a friendly guy, aren’t you?”\n\nThe otter grinned at him, engagingly. It leaned back a bit, showing off its own erect cock. “Sta mayna,” he said, with what sounded like a rueful chortle. \n\n“Been a while for you?” Dale said with a sympathetic grin. “Sorry to hear it, friend. I had a lover myself, but he tried to kill me, so I guess the engagement is off.”\n\nThe otter frowned a bit. “Desti namanay,” it said, rubbing its whiskers in a thoughtful manner. “Ondalla restagar nemene?” It seemed to be pondering. “Cadrathon espa badaga fos nama ges gadrel aba Shann.” It cocked its head to one side. “Gadrelin namanayin, may namatesta redonesa vos cadrathinda. A sayin nes?”\n\nDale chuckled. “You lost me completely there.”\n\nThe otter chuckled. It gently pressed him back down on the moss, as it did before. “But my wounds seem to be…omygod!” Dale began to protest, and then was stunned as the otter slipped down his body, leaned down, and took his shaft into his muzzle. “Now wait a…whoa! That…feels…wow!” The creature slowly pushed its muzzle down until its whiskers were pressed into Dale’s groin fuzz, and swallowed, licking all around Dale’s shaft. “I…oh God…that is sooo good.” He moaned. “Real friendly people, these otters,” he moaned. “Hell of a way to greet visitors.” And then, despite the strangeness of all that had happened, and the fact that the creature locked onto his shaft wasn’t even human, he closed his eyes and lay back, and let himself relax.\n\n*\t\t*\t\t*\n\nJiakan woke from a dream in which he was mating with one of his bond-brothers in the Tribe to find himself humping, unconsciously at the pinkling’s thigh. Embarrassed and startled, he sat up. The pinkling grimaced and starting talking in his strange staccato language. The Singer blinked. Did this furless creature think he could understand its words? His eyes were slowly drawn to the pink creature’s erect, sheathless shaft, which was standing straight and tall. Despite himself, the tonokai smiled. “Your seed rises?” he asked, with a chuckle. This was the traditional greeting from male to male in the Tribes, asking if the need for release out of mating season was great, and, by implication, offering to help, if it were.\n\nThe creature smiled, too, which made Jiakan feel a bit at ease. It appeared that smiling was something the two races shared together. The tone in his nonsense sounds was so lost, that Jiakan could not help but laugh. The creature laughed, too. We are much alike, Jiakan said, with a feeling of inner warmth. He found himself instinctively liking the furless, helpless animal, despite its strangeness. I wonder if he feels the connection of the Worldsong, Jiakan mused. He ran a finger down the creature’s shaft. After all, he has entered into a kind of communion with my arousal, even in my sleep.\n\nThe furless one seemed startled, and said something hoarsely. Jiakan noticed, however, the way the pink cock jumped when touched. He leaned back, smiling, to show his own erection. “We are linked in this excitement,” he said, softly, hoping the creature would understand his tone, if not his words. Jiakan frowned, however, as the creature rattled off a long string of syllables. “You don’t understand at all,” Jiakan said, frowning. “How can I make you hear my words?” He rubbed his whiskers, thinking, then mused aloud, “Your Lifesong is too strange for me to just Sing words into you.” Then he cocked his head. “I could know your Lifesong better if I took some of your seed into me. May I do so?”\n\nThe furless one looked hopelessly lost, and Jiakan heard the frustration in his reply. The Singer chuckled, softly. He simply pushed the creature back down, and, before it protested, slipped his muzzle over the smooth pink shaft. The pinkling began speaking in a strained tone, in between moans. But then he simply lay back, smiled, and enjoyed. That is good, Jiakan thought, as he slowly began to bob his head. The creature is willing for the communion between us. He had learned many tricks in the pleasing of his bond-brothers, and he happily used them all to please this strange creature. We are so much alike, Jiakan thought to himself as he took the creature’s shaft into his throat, gently. We even please the same.\n\n*\t\t*\t\t*\n\nThis is so different, Dale thought to himself. Why is he doing this? The ecologist lay back, one hand idly stroking the otter-alien’s headfur. He felt a climax slowly approaching and tried to hold back, but it came on with the intense inevitability of an oncoming train. “I’m going to cum,” he said, aloud. “Maybe you should pull off?”\n\nThe otter looked at him with inquisitive, intelligent eyes. God, his eyes are so beautiful, he thought, incongruously. Like a deep pool, surrounded by dark green pine trees. As he thought it, he felt his cock jump once, but, before he could speak to warn the otter again, the creature shoved its head down, taking his shaft into its throat. Dale squealed as his climax flared up and out of his control. His whole body went rigid, and he orgasmed in the otter-thing’s throat. It, for its part, gulped and swallowed eagerly, as spasm after spasm sent jets of his cum down its gullet. Jeez…how lucky am I? I’ve landed on the planet of the homosexual, deep-throating otters. I could get used to that prospect.\n\nTo his surprise, the otter lifted its head up and began to sing in the unearthly tones that he had heard it use above the waterfall. The song it sang now, however, was almost hauntingly familiar. The sound echoed deep down into him, and he felt that he was being touched more intimately than he ever had before. The sound slid through him in echoing circles, and he moaned, and then cried out at the feeling of an incredibly intense second orgasm rocked him. This orgasm, however, seemed made of pure energy, for no seed was spilt. He shook like a leaf, the otter-creature’s hand resting gently on his belly. It felt profoundly moved and shaken by the experience, and he lay there, panting, trying to come to terms with the sensations, even as they began to ebb and pull away, leaving a searing afterglow in their place. “I…I dunno what inspired that, or how you made that happen” Dale said shakily, “but thank you.”\n\nThe creature lifted its head. “You’re welcome.”\n\n“Ack! You can speak English!”\n\nIt cocked its head to the side. “What is English?”\n\nDale gestured. “English is the name of...um…the words I use.”\n\nIt smiled. “Your words. I do not speak your words. You are not speaking them now.”\n\nDale frowned. “What do mean? Of course…” He paused. “You’re right. I’m not speaking English. What am I speaking?”\n\nThe otter smiled. “We don’t really have a name for it. It is our words.”\n\nDale rubbed his head, beginning to wonder if he’d had a concussion, or whether this was all a dream. “How come I can talk your words?”\n\nThe otter smiled. “I am a Singer. I Sang them into you.”\n\nDale shook his head. “I don’t understand any of this.”\n\nThe Singer stroked the human’s bare belly, softly. “When I took your Lifesong into me, through your seed, I was able to alter it a little, to make it more like the planet’s Worldsong. As a result, I was able to sing the words into you, and to heal your wounds the rest of the way.”\n\nDale blinked and examined his shoulder and leg. There was not even a little pain from them now. “You…healed me? Through this Lifesong? By Singing?” \n\nThe otter nodded, smiling. “I liked your Lifesong. There’s something good about it…I feel…I don’t know…a communion between our Songs.”\n\nDale shook his head. “Even when I know your words, I don’t understand what they mean.”\n\nThe otter laughed. “Let us start with the shore, and work our way into the ocean. My name is Jiakan. I am the Master Singer of the tonokai.”\n\nDale smiled. “Dale Carr. Nice to meet you.”\n\nThe otter smiled. “What are you Dale-Carr? What are your people called?”\n\nDale puzzled over this. “Human, I think, is the word you’re looking for. I’m a human.”\n\n“Hy-oo-man,” Jiakan said, running his tongue over the unfamiliar syllables. “Hello, hyooman.”\n\nDale laughed. “Human,” he repeated, trying to give the proper inflection. He shook his head. “How did you heal me, and make me understand your words? What is Singing?”\n\nJiakan was startled. “Do you not have Singers where you come from?”\n\nDale shrugged. “Singers? Sure. But they don’t heal the sick, and their singing doesn’t sound like yours.”\n\nThe tonokai puzzled over this. “Then…what good are they? Why do you not get new Singers?”\n\nDale smiled, bemusedly. “Well, no human singers are able to do these things. Can all Singers here do magic?”\n\nJiakan chuckled. “No magic. Just Singing. Good Singers learn to touch the Lifesongs of those around them, or the Song of a river, or forest. I am a Master Singer. I can touch the Worldsong itself.”\n\n“Master Singers are rare, I take it?”\n\nJiakan smiled, proudly. “I am the first one in many generations.”\n\n“So how does it work?”\n\n“It is…hard to explain to an outsider. I change the Songs, a little tiny bit, and it makes the changes happen. Does that help?”\n\n“Not really,” Dale said cheerfully, “But I’m sure it will, one of these days.”\n\nJiakan nodded. “Why were those men chasing you, with their Dissonances?”\n\n“Their dissonances? You mean their weapons?”\n\n“They pointed things at you, and you became hurt?”\n\nDale nodded, grimly. “Those’re guns.”\n\nJiakan frowned. “Gah-oons,” he said, trying out the unfamiliar word. “Why were they chasing you?”\n\nDale sighed, softly. “They want to do some terrible things. I found out about it, and I tried to stop them. I don’t know how many of the crew are involved. Definitely the other people Gates sent. But how many others?”\n\nJiakan rubbed his whiskers. “Now I do not understand. There are more of you?”\n\n“Oh, yes. We came in a…well…a spaceship, from another planet.”\n\nJiakan puzzled over that a bit. “A…spaceship? You came from the stars?”\n\n“From another planet, out among the stars, yes.”\n\nJiakan nodded. “That is why your Songs are so different. I could not Sing you well without bringing some of you into myself. That’s why I took your seed.”\n\nDale blushed, a little. “You’re lucky. Most humans don’t like…um…when males do things like that to other males. I’m one of the few that does. Another human might’ve been more freaked out.” He blushed, smiling a bit. “It was really nice, though. Thanks.”\n\nJiakan smiled in return. “I like to please and take pleasure. But…what you say makes no sense to me. Some of your Tribe do not like pleasure?”\n\n“Well, not from another male.”\n\n“What about when the females are not in heat?” Jiakan asked, trying to work this out in his head. “Do they not seek pleasure then?”\n\n“Uhhh…” Dale tried to phrase his answer properly, in a way his friend would understand. “Our females don’t have a mating season, or a heat. They can breed any time.”\n\nJiakan’s eyes went wide with surprise. “You must be over-run with kits, then! Always in season!”\n\nDale chuckled. “Well, no. We don’t always just mate when we want to feel pleasure. We can pleasure ourselves, for one, and we have ways of…breeding, without actually making a child. On my world, it usually requires a strong bond of friendship or love before two humans will want to be with each other like that. Some people greatly frown upon casual mating.”\n\n“Oh, no,” Jiakan said, looking fretful. “Did I offend you by taking your seed?”\n\nDale smiled. “You know…I should probably be a lot more disturbed that a member of another…Tribe…took my seed, but I’m not. It felt great, and you are…well…” Dale paused, looking over the tonokai Singer. He was attractive, in a strange sort of way. The proportions of his body didn’t match the human ideal of beauty, but he was honest, and open, and gentle. “You seem like you have a lot of the kinds of qualities I look for in a mate, anyway,” Dale admitted, with a blush.\n\nJiakan smiled and stroked the human’s cock with a forefinger. To his delight, and amusement, it began to rise again. “You still need the release of seed?” the otter chuckled.\n\n“I don’t know why,” Dale grumbled. “Those two orgasms you gave me were pretty shattering.” He spied the otter’s own erection, red and glistening. “And, besides, you still haven’t…um…released your seed, yet.”\n\nJiakan looked down, and smiled. “You wish to help me?”\n\nDale blushed. “Do your people…mate…below the tails? I’m sure when you mate your females you do, but do males?”\n\nJiakan looked serious. “Not often, but sometimes. Is that what you want?”\n\nDale paused. Was this what he wanted? Finally, he nodded. “Please?”\n\nJiakan sat back, looking over the human. It was true that the human was oddly gawky and shorter in torso, but he was appealing in other ways, and the sensation of soft, smooth skin along his fur was somewhat intoxicating. “We call it the toshtai,” he said, softly. “It is a very serious thing among my people. I have never done it before, because the bond it creates is very strong, and I have never found a male, or female, that I wished to be close to in that way.”\n\nDale paled, a little. “Like a marriage? I didn’t mean that I wanted…”\n\nJiakan placed his paw over the human's lips. “There is something about you, Dale-Carr. I feel a link to you I cannot explain. I would like to perform the toshtai with you, if you wish it. Perhaps…because you are not tonokai…it may not make the bond. I don’t know. But…if it does…I like you, Dale-Carr. I would not mind being bonded to you.”\n\nDale-Carr looked at his strange new friend. “I like you, too, Jiakan. I can think of worse people to be bonded to.”\n\nJiakan smiled. He rolled over, on top of the human, and pressed his lips to Dale’s, even as he gently took Dale’s shaft in his hand and squeezed it. The human moaned, beneath him, and Jiakan felt his blood rising. It did not matter that they did not look the same. In their hearts, he knew, they were. He kissed slowly down the human’s soft, smooth body, tasting the salty sweat droplets on his lips, his blond hair hanging down around his face. \n\nDale shuddered, his body slowly writhing as lips and whiskers pressed here and there. Jiakan was a gentle, but commanding presence, and he closed his eyes, shuddering, letting his hands slide down to caress his lover’s hair and shoulders. When the otter took a nipple into his muzzle and bit down, lightly, Dale felt his cock jump, and groaned, heavily.\n\nJiakan tugged the nipple with sharp little teeth a couple of times, delighting in the moans of his partner. Dale was a deliciously vocal playmate, and Jiakan smiled to himself, enjoying hearing how much the human was getting aroused. He, himself, could feel his shaft erect and straining as it slid over the human’s sweat-slick skin. He lifted his hips, not wanting the release to come too soon. He kissed down, running his tongue around the human’s navel, gently and giving one long lick down his lover’s erect shaft, eliciting a long, sustained groan.\n\nDale surrendered to the pleasure, fingers gripping into the mossy bed he lay on. “Oh, Ji,” he sighed, softly. His hips lifted, involuntarily, but Jiakan slipped down and off, to kneel between Dale’s legs. As Jiakan lifted his legs, Dale gripped his knees to give the otter better access.\n\nJiakan smiled, taking a look at Dale’s fuzzy pink hole. “You humans have fur in the funniest places.” He gave his glistening cock a few strokes, and precum drooled out, adding to the slickness. He rubbed a slippery finger over Dale’s anus and was rewarded with an encouraging moan. Gently, he pressed the finger in, feeling Dale spread and then tighten around him. He wiggled the finger a bit, then began slowly rubbing it in and out. Dale gasped, his back arching, as the otterkin’s thick finger slipped over his prostate. Jiakan paused, and then, with a wicked smile, rubbed back and forth over the sensitive spot, causing the human to writhe and moan. “You need this, don’t you?” Jiakan said, softly, smiling.\n\nDale whimpered, lifting his head. “Need you,” he agreed, breathily.\n\nJiakan gathered the human’s hips into his arms, scooted forward on his knees to line up, and, with a slow, but insistent motion, pressed the tapered tip of his thick cock deeply into his lover’s body. Dale’s head fell back with a throttled cry, and he gripped Jiakan’s wrists, tightly. “Easy, my lover” Jiakan murmured, softly, bending down to kiss the human’s belly a couple of times. “Is it too much?”\n\nDale’s felt a tear trickle from his eye. He could not remember ever feeling more fulfilled than by this gentle creature’s loving touches. “No,” he whispered. “It’s perfect. Please don’t stop.”\n\nJiakan did not stop. He slowly rocked, each time pressing a bit more of his shaft into the tight, clenching hole. When he finally felt his hips pressed to Dale’s ass, he sighed and relaxed a bit. “Give me just a moment,” the tonokai chuckled. “This feels…I never knew the toshtai would feel…so…” He laughed. “I don’t have the words. It’s wonderful. You’re wonderful! I want to be bonded with you, Dale-Carr.”\n\nDale laughed, weakly. “Dale. Just call me Dale.”\n\nJiakan smiled. “I think I love you, Dale.”\n\nDale smiled. “Well, it may just be lust, talking, but I think I love you, too. Or maybe this is the toshtai bond you mentioned.”\n\nJiakan sighed, happily. “I do not know. I’m ready to keep going, if you are?” At Dale’s smiling nod, Jiakan began to slowly move his hips, causing his broad shaft to slide in and out, pulling Dale’s anus taut, and then pushing in again. With each inward stroke, Dale gave a soft moan, and his hands began to caress the tonokai’s slick pelt. Jiakan’s nose smelled his human lover’s precum, and he looked down. Dale’s cock was strained almost to a painful point, and the Singer smiled. Gripping Dale’s hips tightly, he pushed his head down, exercising the massive spinal flexibility of his species, and took Dale’s cock in his mouth.\n\n“Oh!” Dale cried aloud, his face lit with surprise and passion. “Oh, God! Ji…that…oh, man!” He began thrusting into the tonokai’s muzzle as the thick shaft moved within him. Dale felt lost in a sea of incredible sensations, unable to stop what was happening, even if he wanted to. He held Jiakan’s head in his hands, fingers stroking the ears, stunned by the passion with which this alien creature took him and pleasured him at once. “I…can’t last long like this, Ji!”\n\nJiakan heard his lover’s words and gave a half-nod. He gripped the human’s hips and began a series of powerful thrust, using his tail to give extra leverage, showing Dale what powerful swimming and thrusting muscles a tonokai had. The human began to wail, and Jiakan felt and tasted the increase in flowing precum, which he lapped up eagerly as he sucked and coaxed Dale towards a strong orgasm. With an ear cocked, as always, towards the Worldsong, he heard as his Song and Dale’s joined together. Almost despite himself, he began to voice the tune, resonating Dale’s shaft with the notes of their combined song.\n\nDale screamed as he felt the hum around his and through his veins like fire. He gripped Jiakan’s head and thrust up hard as his orgasm hit, sending wave after wave of cum into Jiakan’s muzzle, where it was greedily swallowed.\n\nJiakan felt the Song in his own body, even as he felt Dale tightening around him in release, and the tonokai held on hard as his body began to buck and shudder. He was only dimly aware of the physical sensations of his orgasm, as he felt his soul and the Song climax, sending waves of music in all directions. He milked the cock in his muzzle as he felt Dale milk his own shaft. And, finally, he collapsed atop his lover’s body, physically and spiritually exhausted. The two lay then, intertwined, sweating, and utterly a part of one another.\n\nJiakan nuzzled his lover’s belly, tenderly. “That was…I am in awe of it,” he gasped.\n\nDale could not speak for some time. He opened his eyes, intending to tell Jiakan how much he loved him, and stared in wonder. “Did we do that?” he whispered reverently.\n\nJiakan opened his eyes and lifted his head. On every surface, the cave walls had sprouted colonies of tiny flowers of many colors. “We made a living rainbow,” Jiakan said with a little laugh of joy. “I have never used the Song like that before.”\n\nDale smiled, touching his lover’s face. “I hope we can do that again. And again, and again.”\n\nJiakan grinned. “But what about your people? Don’t you have anyone among them you’ll miss?”\n\nDale shrugged. “Not really. I had a lover named Bradley, but we broke up a few months ago. And then there was Groszmann.” Sudden realization flooded through him. “Oh, my God! Groszmann! What happened to him and Captain Inman?”\n\nJiakan winced. “I…I Sang the river up at them and swept them away…they were trying to hurt you.” He whimpered, softly. “I may have killed them. I am sorry, if they meant something to you.”\n\nDale shook his head. “You don’t understand. They and some of the others want to do terrible things to this place, to your people. Things that would make your planet die.”\n\nJiakan frowned, pursing his lips, then widened his eyes in understanding. “The Great Dissonance I felt. It must come from them?”\n\nDale stood, shakily. “I…I don’t know, but I think so. You hear the Song of the World, right? If the Song doesn’t like what they’re doing, it can’t be good.”\n\nJiakan frowned. “Can you lead me to where they are?”\n\nDale nodded. “Do you have some clothes I can wear?”\n\nJiakan was puzzled. “Why?”\n\nDale thought on that for a moment. “You’re right. Never mind. Let’s go.”\n\n*\t\t*\t\t*\n\nThey emerged from the jungle onto the coast. For a brief moment, the beauty of it struck both males: the green of the jungle, the gold of the sand, and the blue of the sky and ocean. Then, Jiakan’s eyes fell on something, and he recoiled, in shock. “W-what is that?”\n\nDale looked. “That’s our base camp. It’s our ship, with some modules extended out to provide food and things we need.”\n\nJiakan stared at the squat monstrosity that crouched on the shore like a twisted metal crab. He whispered, hoarsely, “It is the Great Dissonance.”\n\nDale stared at it. “It’s…it’s pumping in sea water, filtering it, and emitting the waste from the ship. But there’s plenty of water aboard ship. They must be preparing water to take it back to my home planet.” He shook his head. “I don’t know what to do. They’ll cut down tries, take your plants and animals. They’ll just destroy everything. Your planet’s eco-system is so interconnected…”\n\nJiakan touched his lover’s arm. “Is there anyone aboard who you would see saved?”\n\nDale frowned. “I don’t know. I think some must feel like I do.”\n\n“Can you get them out of there, somehow?”\n\nDale looked over at the ship. “I think I can, yes.”\n\nJiakan nodded and stepped back, then listened for a moment and slowly began to Sing. For a heartbeat, Dale listened, awed by the strangeness and richness of the Song, and then he ran towards the base. Picking up a huge piece of driftwood, he ran at the most fragile unit, the hydroponics tent, and began battering it. Rents quickly appeared in the clear material, and an alarm sounded from somewhere within. A figure ran into the tent, and Dale recognized Maria Choi, the mission team’s medical officer. “Get everyone out,” he yelled, not fully understanding what Jiakan had planned. When she just stared, he realized he’d yelled in tonokai words and yelled again, in English. “Something’s going to happen! Get everyone out!” She stared at him, and then nodded, slowly and ran back into the ship.\n\nBack along the beach, Jiakan was Singing up a powerful force. It had last visited when he had been only 5. It had taken his mother away, and the whole Tribe had moved further into the jungle, into safety. They would be safe. He saw Dale running towards him. Dale would be safe. He would make sure of it. The Singer took his friend’s hand in his and squeezed it, smiling, as he finished his Song.\n\nA group of people emerged from the craft, including Gates’ men, and, to Dale’s horror, including Groszmann. Groszmann looked pale and weak, but he held a blaster as he advanced on the pair. He smirked as he approached, taking in Dale’s nudity. “Gone native, Carr?” he asked, drawing up a bit short, gun still trained on the pair.\n\n“It’s over, Groszmann,” he said, in English. “You won’t be hurting this planet, or anywhere else, any more.” He raised his voice. “Get everyone out of the ship. This is ending here.”\n\nGroszmann was incredulous. “You’re threatening us? You’re naked. You have a primitive alien by your side. We have guns. What part of this equation isn’t working for you?”\n\nA dull roar slowly coming into hearing range caused everyone to turn and look out to sea. A wall of water, a huge tsunami, was rolling over the ocean, the sky darkening into storm around it as it came. “You missed part of the equation, Groszmann,” Dale said, his voice tinged with awe and fear. “The planet doesn’t want you here.”\n\nGroszmann stared, slack-jawed, at the coming wall. Other members of the Isis team ran back to the ship and began evacuating it, deploying emergency life rafts, and harnessing themselves to flotation devices. Groszmann wheeled back to stare at them both, then he narrowed his eyes, staring at Jiakan. “You,” he growled. “You did this, somehow, didn’t you? You made the river kill the captain, and you almost killed me. And now you want to wipe us all out?” He raised his gun. “I’ll kill you, first!”\n\n“No!” Dale yelled, as he saw the danger. He dove at his tonokai lover and bore him to the ground as the blaster shot sailed overhead. He heard the whine as the blaster began recharging, and he dragged himself and the otter up to run.\n\nJiakan didn’t seem inclined to run, however. “You have brought Dissonance to my world,” he said to Groszmann, who blinked, not understanding the tonokai language. “I cannot fathom why, but I cannot allow it to continue, either.” He took Dale’s hand and squeezed. “My toshtai mate and I will not bow before the evil you bring here.”\n\nGroszmann blinked again, and then started to laugh. “Ohhh, my,” he crowed. “Gotten very friendly with the natives, haven’t you, Carr? I know ecologists like to get into their work, but I think most of them toe the line at bestiality.”\n\nDale looked up, as the wave looming over them darkened the sky. It had come faster than any of them would’ve guessed. “He’s more human than you, asshole!” Carr yelled, and then the world was water.\n\nJiakan did not flee the wave. He grabbed Dale and leaped straight at it, his lean body knifing into it, pulling the human along behind him. Groszmann stared up at it, dumbly, and was crushed against the beach as by a huge hand. Jiakan grabbed Dale with arms and legs, using his strong tail to propel them both upwards through the water. When he felt Dale struggle, he pressed his lips to the human’s mouth and blew air into his lungs. Together they drove upwards through the murky water, and together they broke the surface, clinging to each other, gasping in lungfuls of air. Jiakan rolled to his back, like a living raft, and held Dale to him.\n\n“Jesus,” Dale gasped, seeing lightning flash and rain falling all around them. He turned and saw the others, holding tight to their rafts and buoys. “But won’t your people…?”\n\nJiakan shook his head. “We built up on high ground and deep inland. They will not be touched.”\n\nDale nodded, and then lay his head on Jiakan’s belly. “Now what?”\n\n“Now, the Dissonance will be swept deep into the ocean, where the Song of the Deep covers all other Songs. The threat is over.”\n\nDale frowned. “The other humans?”\n\nJiakan shrugged. “If your people wish to join us, I think they will be welcomed, as long as they respect the Songs. If they wish to stay on their own, that is okay, too.” He smiled. “I imagine we could learn a lot from each other, though.”\n\nDale sighed. “So we’re safe? But for how long? Other expeditions might come. More Dissonances. What if…?”\n\nJiakan touched his lips, gently. “We’ll Sing that tune when we come to it. For now, we are safe.”\n\nDale nodded, and hugged the tonokai tightly. “So…what happens to us?”\n\nJiakan looked towards the jungle. The water from the Great Wave was already receding, and he had to stroke towards the jungle to prevent them being towed out to sea. “I should head back to the Tribes. And I hope you’ll come with me. The other tonokai will be anxious to meet you.” He tugged on a lock of Dale’s hair, playfully. “Just remember, if a tonokai male asks you if you have released seed, don’t say no, unless you want him take yours from you.”\n\nDale snickered. “It is the planet of the homosexual, deep-throating otters! When they named it Nova Eden, they didn’t know the half of it!”\n\nJiakan blinked. “I do not understand your words.”\n\nDale smiled and kissed him, gently. “Never mind,” he said. “I’ll explain later. Let’s round up the others and start swimming home.”\n\nJiakan touched Dale’s chest, over his heart. “I am home,” he said smiling.\n\nWorldsong by Andrew “Aethan” French\n\n PAGE 13 \n\n","writing_bbcode_parsed":"Worldsong
By Andrew “Aethan” French
There was, Jiakan mused, something lyrical about the quality of a particularly lazy day. At 23 years, he was still rather young by the standards of the tonokai, but he had risen to become the Tribes’ Master Singer. As a result, he was often left to his own devices. The less powerful Acolytes took care of most of the work; he was called upon for only the most important tasks and rites. He had risen to his high position because the Worldsong was almost always in his ears and heart, and he was able to Sing with a resonance and intensity that was said to rival even the great Liadana of so many generations past.
On this particularly lyrical day, he was floating on his back in a secluded pond at the edge of the Tribes’ territory. The waving treetops above framed a sky of dazzling blue, and the sun slanted down to warm the pool and his body. When it grew too warm, he Sang the pool’s own Song. When it had begun to Sing with him, he would change the Song, ever-so-subtly, and the pool would follow his lead, and it would grow cooler.
Several years back, he had found the diverging cadence of an underground stream branching away from the river’s main melody, and he had followed it beneath the broad-leafed sadao trees, occasionally pausing to put his ear to the ground and make certain the little refrain was piping its secret tune. Eventually its music had burst forth from rocky ground to collect in a deep bowl that it had long-ago worn smooth. Jiakan had claimed this place as his special, hidden camp-site, and, when many days were due to pass between rituals, he would pack some food and go to the pool to have some time away from the other of the Tribes. Like most tonokai, Jiakan was a very social creature. Unlike most of his kind, however, he found the need to hear the Song more clearly compelled him to seek solitude. And so, he lived among his people, but apart from them. He felt that no one place was truly his home, and this often made him sad.
He was a handsome member of his race, with a short muzzle, a broad nose, small ears, elegant whiskers, and laughing blue eyes. His long body and short limbs were designed to glide through the water at great speed, and these, combined with his webbed hands and feet and long, broad tail made him as good a swimmer as any tonokai. His dense fur covered his body, keeping him warm in the water, and his head-fur was long, spiky, and blond, which was unusual in the Tribes, where head-fur mostly tended to black. His people disdained clothing, unlike the pink, hairless things that had begun to appear on the edges of their territory. The tonokai displayed their pelts proudly, often dying or cutting patterns in their fur as decoration. Although Jiakan sometimes wore a belt for carrying things, in the water he was always naked, and he loved the feeling of the rippling water against all of his extremities.
Jiakan closed his eyes, his ears below the waterline, allowing him to listen to the lovely Song of the pool. All tonokai felt their link to the water, but the Singers always felt it best, and he, as the Master Singer, was able to reach out and feel it even more. As he rested, he listened further, hearing, slowly, the Songs of the rivers, stream, rivulets, ponds, pools, and oceans of the world. He felt the other tonokai, all over the world, and gloried in the rich variance their individual Lifesongs brought to the Worldsong itself. For a brief moment, he opened his mouth, letting the Worldsong slide into him, only to press up his throat, over his teeth, and out through his lips, giving voice to the very essence of his world’s being.
Then, with a deep chill, he felt something terrible…a Great Dissonance in the Worldsong. Something was wrong. He sat up, feeling concerned. Something not native to the world was altering the Song, and the World was not pleased at all. He immediately slipped up onto the bank, drew himself up, and scanned all around him, letting the Worldsong enter him again. If something was changing the Song, he needed to know what it was, and try to fix things. He thought of the Tribes. Should he warn them of his possibly prolonged absence? He shook his head. This needed to be dealt with now, and the Acolytes would know how to deal with anything the Tribes might need. Strapping on his belt and taking up his staff, he began following the sound of the dissonance south, towards the coast.
*\t\t*\t\t*
Dale Carr hid behind the thick trunk of a tree and tried to make his breath come in something quieter than the rasping chokes he’d been emitting for the last few minutes. He was woefully out of shape, he knew, and he cursed himself for not taking better care of his body. Those cigarettes, he mused. Barry always said they would kill me. Of course, I don’t think he had this particular scenario in mind when he said it. Dale tried to bring his labored breathing under control, as he ran through the events of the last two months in his head.
He’d come as part of the Isis Project, as their team xeno-biologist and ecologist. He’d been so excited when the prospect had come up. He would be part of the first team to explore a planet outside of Earth’s solar system. He would walk on the surface of another world and one which, if their probes were any indication, was inhabited by a primitive humanoid sentient race. Mankind was making its first confirmed contact with an alien species, and he would be there! How could he have done anything but accept the mission?
Then things had begun to bottom out. The Horus III had blown up during testing, killing the test crew, including Teri O’Reilly, the actress turned astronaut who was America’s sweetheart. America’s confidence and interest in the space program declined to a new all-time low, and it seemed that Isis might be shelved for good. When the multi-billion dollar donation had come in from Damon Gates, the so-called “World’s Richest Man”, with the only stipulation that three of Gates’ agents would go on the first flight, NASA had accepted. Now, Dale realized, it had been a deal with the devil.
Their worm-hole jump had been textbook perfect and the landing almost suspiciously routine. Testing had begun on the native flora and fauna, and he’d begun to analyze their relationships. This world, which the Earth scientists had dubbed, Nova Eden, occupied the second solar orbit, the equivalent of roughly halfway between where Venus and Earth orbited Sol. It was like a whole world comprised of oceans and rainforests, and Dale had hoped to find more info about the relationships between rainforest inhabitants in order to preserve Earth’s last vanishing rainforest. He had found that everything seemed to exist in a delicate symbiosis, connected through various ways. It’s like a tower made of blocks. Each block is holding the tower up. Remove one and you may be okay. Remove enough and the whole tower falls. He had busied himself in discovering just what blocks could be removed, and which ones were essential.
It hadn’t been all work, though. Dale had quickly realized that one of Gates’ men, a hunky bearish-type named Gus Groszmann, was also gay and interested in him. He and Groszmann had become lovers after planetfall, and they had spent most of the mission’s nights in sweaty ecstasy in their joined sleeping-module. Although sexual liaisons between crew were officially frowned upon, Gus had displayed his vast ability with computers by actually rewriting the computer’s log of what was happening within their private quarters.
Dale had to fight down his rage as he thought of Gus. Bastard betrayed me…fucked me more thoroughly than ever with his clothes still on. Gus had been called into a meeting with the other Gates men at least once a week, and Gus seemed reluctant to talk to him about what they were discussing. Out of curiosity, Dale turned on Gus’s two-way before he went into his meeting. In horror, Dale overheard Gus and the others discuss the strip-mining and exploitation of New Eden. He could not believe his ears. What’s worse, they were using data that he himself had collected in order to decide what the richest areas for development were. Afterwards, over a private dinner in their module, he asked Gus about what had been discussed at their meeting.
Gus shrugged. “Nothing special. Same as always. Why?”
“Just curious, You spend so much time at meetings; you must be discussing a lot of interesting, difficult matters.”
Gus shook his head. “Pretty dull, routine stuff,” he said.
It had been that cold dismissal of what they were discussing that had shocked Dale. Was this the routine stuff? The destruction of an alien eco-system? If that was it, then he wanted out. He confronted Gus with what he knew. “How could you?” he asked the bigger man. “There are people here! They don’t look like humans, but that doesn’t make them not people! If you take from this place what earth needs to live, it will die! Everything in the rainforest is connected by a web. If you break the strands of the web, this place will start to die!”
Gus’s face had gone cold, then. “That’s not my concern,” he said. “I have my own mission, and I intend to fulfill it.”
Dale rose. “I’ll report you to Captain Inman. He’ll stop this mission of yours.”
As Dale headed for the door, Gus sprinted to his desk and pulled out a pistol. “I don’t think so,” he said, soft and menacingly. Dale froze, staring at the gun. It was a class-Y disrupter, a highly illegal device. One blast from that and there would be no more Dale Carr, as well as no more gun. The class-Y models were designed to break into component molecules, to make them untraceable. He stared at the gun, then looked up at Gus. He had been falling in love with this man, he’d thought, and now he was going to die for it.
Just then, the door to his cabin had opened, and a member of the engineering crew had entered, mouth open to make a report. Dale made a leap for the door, and Gus had fired. Dale had been missed, but the other crewman was not so fortunate. He screamed only once as he was reduced to his components, resulting in a messy puddle on the floor and a whiff of ozone in the air. Dale ran, desperate to make it to the captain’s quarters. As he ran, an announcement came over the ship’s intercom. Attention, all personnel. All personnel are requested to report the whereabouts of Xeno-Ecologist Dale Carr. Carr is wanted for questioning regarding the discharge of an illegal weapon and the slaying of a crewman in his quarters. Repeat…
As the message repeated, Dale knew he was doomed. If he allowed himself to be taken in, he would likely suffer a fatal accident at the hands of another Gates man. If he ran, he would be seen as guilty. Either way, he was screwed. Choosing the option that didn’t see him dead, he fled the ship before access to the outside world was cut off. He’d run for several hours before reaching a spot and hiding, but, this morning, he’d heard the whine of flyers and knew they were trying to track him down. As a result, he was running again.
Having regained his breath, he ran along the stream-bed, the water around his ankles, knowing that this would confuse the DNA-trackers by sweeping his genetic “scent” downstream. He’d mentally picked out a series of forested streams and pools as the best place for him to get lost and evade pursuit. Once things were settled down, he knew they’d view the computer’s log of what had happened, but he also knew that Gus was likely to have been rewriting that log, in case they had sex. Odds were that he’d never be able to rejoin the human race. He sighed. There were worse alternatives. Humans hadn’t exactly proved to be the most trustworthy creatures he’d ever met. Upstream, there was fruit and nuts and fish and game, not to mention tons of fresh water. He didn’t have all his instruments, but he had his knowledge. He was confident he could survive in the jungle indefinitely, until he was somehow able to communicate with the Captain and explain his innocence. He began running north, into the interior.
*\t\t*\t\t*
Jiakan paused and felt for the river’s Song. He could still feel the disturbances, and they were closer. He paused to rest in the roots of a baldano tree, catching a fish hiding in the reeds there and eating it raw. He smiled; although he was perfectly capable of Singing the fish up out of the river, he preferred to keep his other skills honed, in case he didn’t have the Song to fall back on, sometime. He pondered his position and the meaning of the Song. He judged there was a waterfall ahead, of some height. He smiled at the prospect of seeing rainbows dancing in the spray and listening to their bell-like coloratura. The world was so beautiful, even without the Song. With the Song within him, it was made twice more so. He Sang, softly, all the beauty around him, because it simply had to have Voice. All around him, the forest and the river trembled to hear their Song echoed back at them. When he finished, he barked a laugh in pleasure.
His Singing and his fish both finished, he pulled himself back up and followed the river south. His instincts told him he would find the disturbance soon, and he intended to smooth the ripples as soon as possible.
*\t\t*\t\t*
Dale was exhausted, and he felt a rattling in his chest. Was he far enough away? Had he evaded trackers and flyers alike? He turned to look around him. The jungle seemed placid and quiet, except for a roaring from the north. What was it that he was hearing? A waterfall? If it were a waterfall, perhaps the pool below it would be a good place to rest and camp. If he had evaded his pursuit, it might be as good a place as any to live.
He forced himself the last leg of the journey and emerged from the foliage to a glorious sight. The waterfall, fully two-hundred feet tall, was cascading mightily down from the rocks above. Below it, a large basin filled with the churning water before it was sent south as the river he’d been following. Small jewel-like insects resembling dragonflies flitted above its surface, while large fish swam in the basin and broke the surface to catch the flies. Rainbows danced in the spray, and Dale smiled. Eden, indeed.
Suddenly, a strange, unearthly sound rose over the roaring of the falls, and Dale was startled from his reverie. He’d never heard anything like it, except that it echoed, in some small way, the songs of the long-extinct humpback whales of Earth. His eyes rose up, and, at the top of the falls, he saw an extraordinary figure. He recognized it at once as once of the otter-like indigenous humanoids their probes had discovered living here. It appeared to be naked, except for a broad belt with several pouches on it, and it carried a staff. It was singing, and the sound sent a little thrill up and down Dale’s spine. It was an electric moment, and Dale was transfixed by the weird, unearthly beauty of the scene and the song.
When the singer’s voice died away, Dale cupped his hands to his mouth and called, “Hullo!” The figure seemed very startled, and turned to see the source of the call. Dale waved his arms at the figure. If someone was going to make contact, it might as well be him. Maybe the creature and its people could help him in some way. Or maybe they’d try to kill him, too. This thought came to Dale too late, and his waving faltered, but, a moment later, the figure raised the hand not carrying the staff and waved back, displaying his bright white teeth in his brown face. “I hope that’s a smile,” Dale muttered to himself, smiling back.
The snap of a twig behind him caused him to turn. The Captain stood there, as did Gus, both with normal side-arm blasters in their hands, trained on him. “Well,” said Gus. “Thanks for calling. We heard that weird noise, and then your shout. I think we might’ve walked right past you without that. So thank you.”
“Fuck you,” Dale growled. “Captain Inman, listen. I didn’t kill that engineer. Groszmann had a class-Y disrupter. He rewrote the computer log for the room. We were lovers.”
The Captain shook his head. “Stow it, Carr. You could’ve been a part of all this, but you just had to cause trouble. We could’ve all been rich, the saviors of a dying Earth, but you’re such a damned bleeding-heart that you couldn’t bear the idea of it, could you?” He spat in the water.
Dale blinked. “You’re on their payroll, aren’t you?” he said, after a moment. “You’re in on it. All of it.” Jesus Christ, Captain. The knowledge we could’ve taken from here would’ve been enough to repair the world. We don’t have to destroy this place to repair Earth.”
Gus sneered. “When would that be? A hundred years from now? Get current, Dale. We want to be rich in this life, not spiritually fulfilled in the next. Countries will pay Gates trillions for the resources we can strip from this planet, and we’ll have a percentage of that. It’s like a big all-you-can-eat buffet.” He kept his blaster trained on the ecologist. “Sorry, baby. We could’ve been set up for a hundred lifetimes over. Pity you had to go and develop a conscience and a spine. That kind of shit can be fatal, you know.”
All three men looked up startled as a voice called from atop the waterfall. The otter-like native was waving his staff above his head. “The Hell..?” Inman said.
“Local inhabitant,” Groszmann sneered. “I’ll take care of it.” He raised his blaster, taking aim.
Suddenly, Dale turned and dove into the pool. Groszmann and Inman both began firing their blasters. One shot hit him in the shoulder and the other in the leg, but then he was underwater, and the water began diffusing their blasts. They could see Carr struggling to swim deeper underwater, his blood clouding the pool around him. Groszmann pulled out a plastisteel utility knife. “I’ll finish this,” he said, striding into the pool, the native creature forgotten.
*\t\t*\t\t*
Jiakan had reached the waterfall, looked around, and been overjoyed by the beauty he saw. Once again, he’d felt the need to let the Worldsong flow through his lips and to be transcended by that music for one brief moment. He had been shocked, however, by the voice calling to him from below. It was one of the furless strangers that had been spotted wandering through the forest. The creature had looked so tall and awkward, and it made him smile. He had raised his arm, then, and waved back, only to see two more pinklings emerge from the brush. He had started down the slope towards them to speak with them in person, when he’d felt something wrong. The Lifesongs of two were discordant and harsh, while the first one’s Lifesong was running through crescendos of fear. Something was not as it seemed.
As he got closer, he saw the two new pinklings hold strange sticks. To his horror, these objects had no true Songs of their own, but only a twisted version of the Sun’s Song! He cried out, then. “Throw those away!” he tried to warn them. “They are Dissonance!” The pink creatures had seemed startled to see him, and one had raised his stick to focus it on him. He let the Worldsong rise within him, ready to counteract the Dissonance he felt rising below him. But, then, the first pinkling had taken refuge in the water, and the others had unleashed their Dissonance at their comrade. It made no sense! Why would these creatures do this? Surely they did not eat each other? Horrified, Jiakan had watched while one brought out an object that had no Song at all! It resembled a knife, but there was no Song in it. The pinkling with the Songless knife walked into the water towards the first one, who’s Song had become fractured and Discordant, in the manner of one in pain and distress.
Jiakan had seen enough; he knew a Dissonance when he saw one, even if these were not the Great Dissonance he had felt, earlier. Gathering the refrains of the Worldsong into him, he Sang up the River, and the River answered, its Song rising to cut off the Dissonance in its midst. Casting aside belt and staff, Jiakan dove deep into the pool, gripping the wounded pinkling and dragging him deep as the water rose.
*\t\t*\t\t*
Inman saw the otter-thing dive deeply into the water and grab Carr, dragging him deeper. He opened his mouth to call to Groszmann, and it remained hanging open in stunned horror. Before he could cry any warning to Groszmann, the river above the waterfall surged upwards into a spontaneous wall of water, some twenty feet high, and smashed both men against the rocks. Their bodies were carried downstream by the raging torrent and dumped out into the ocean approximately two hours later. In the wake of the watery wall, the River returned to its serene, calm state.
*\t\t*\t\t*
Dale awoke, briefly, to see that he was in some kind of cave. He could see flickering firelight reflected off glistening walls, and he heard the dull roar of the waterfall. Pain shot through him as he tried to move, reminding him of the wounds he’d sustained. If he didn’t get some kind attention soon, he’d die. He tied to move again, and a ragged groan of pain was torn from his lips. Immediately, he heard bare feet flapping on stone. He turned his head and saw the otter-thing he’d seen above the waterfall looking concerned. It really is uncanny how expressive their faces are, Carr mused. They almost seemed human.
The otter-creature spoke in a foreign, oddly-musical language. It knelt by him, gently put its paw on his good shoulder, and pressed him down onto the mossy floor. Dale felt his eyes fluttering. “If you’re telling me I should sleep,” he groaned, “I’m in complete agreement.” He closed his eyes, lay back, and passed out again.
*\t\t*\t\t*
Jiakan frowned. He didn’t understand the furless one’s words, but he knew the pink creature was badly injured. He had made certain that the river’s fury did not touch the injured furless pinkling, and then had dragged it to this hidden cave behind the waterfall. He chewed sweet binto leaves into a pulp and tried to make a poultice for the fleshy thing. A more thorough examination told him the bintos were wasted. Although his initial instinct was to simply let the creature heal naturally, these wounds were like nothing Jiakan had seen before. They looked as if arrows of fire had passed through the pinkling’s body, burning holes as they went. Jiakan sighed. If he wanted this thing to survive, he had to Sing it back to health, and quickly.
He rubbed at his whiskers, thoughtfully. Did he want this creature to survive? It was wearing a strange artificial skin over its body, and this skin had no Song to it. But still, he’d felt this one’s Song, and it was different…gentler somehow than the Songs of those who had brought the other Dissonances into his territory. He had no remorse for what he’d done to the humans; he only regretted that he’d had to stir the river’s Song to such violence. He had never considered doing such a thing before, but he could not allow the Dissonance to continue. He had put enough force into it that the pinklings and their Songless knives and skins would be swept out into the ocean, where all other Songs were swallowed in the great Symphony of the Deep Places.
He touched the pinkling’s face. Its skin was a ruddy, tanned color, and the fur on its head was almost jet black, like most tonokai. It was stocky, with a slight paunch to its belly, and a certain chubbiness to its face that made the Singer smile. In addition, there was something strangely familiar and appealing about its Lifesong, as alien as it was. The wounded pinkling moaned, again, as it moved in its sleep. Jiakan sighed, set his jaw, and made up his mind. He would help this ugly, furless creature, but only on his terms. He first took out his clamshell knife and slowly, carefully, began cutting away the false Songless skin that the pinkling wore. He stripped the odd, alien cloth away from the furless one’s body and saw that he did have fur, but only very sparsely. In addition to the fur on its head, it had a light dusting of fur over its chest, all of it black, but short and quite curly, with a path leading down to the groin, which seemed most heavily furred of all the creature’s body areas. It was a male, Jiakan noticed, and he touched its genitalia, curiously. It seemed to have no sheath over its penis, but to simply hang down when flaccid. “No wonder you cover yourself with strange furs,” he murmured, with a smile. “How embarrassing to be gliding through the water with that dangling between your legs.” He noticed also the creature’s lack of proper whiskers or any manner of tail. He shook his head. How could such a helpless creature survive? It didn’t even have claws!
Jiakan closed his eyes and listened to the male pinkling’s Song. It was a fairly simple one, but very odd, and Jiakan had some difficulty picking up the tune. He began to Sing it aloud, and he felt, rather than heard, when the furless humanoid’s body reluctantly began to match his Singing. Once he had the two Songs aligned, he slowly changed what he was Singing and let the creature’s body Sing along. He Sang it towards perfect health, but, although the creature’s body followed the tonokai‘s lead, the results were sluggish and not nearly as potent as they might be. He barely managed to close the wounds slightly before his voice faltered and sputtered out like a candle-flame.
As Jiakan finished, he moaned a bit himself, his head whirling and his guts in a knot. The man’s Song had not been complex, but it had tired him more than even the most complex Songs he knew usually did. There was something strange about the male’s Lifesong. Something alien. It did not seem to relate to the Worldsong of the planet. Jiakan shook his head and muttered, “Don’t know where you’re from, Pinkling, but I’d bet it’s nowhere close to here.” With that, he lay down on the moss beside the furless beast and slowly drifted into slumber.
*\t\t*\t\t*
Dale awoke, slowly, feeling a warmth on his side. The firelight was gone, and only a pale light from the cave’s entrance made it possible for him to see. He blinked down at the source of the warmth to find that the otter-thing had fallen asleep, its body pressed to his. Dale shivered. Twenty-four hours ago, he had never seen an alien being. Now, he was being touched by one. He idly wondered if he’d have to go in quarantine as a result of this.
Dale moved, slightly, and the creature stirred in its sleep, mumbled something, and then rolled over, one short otterish arm landing across the human’s belly. Dale realized three things at once. Firstly, there was only a dull ache of pain from the two blaster shots he’d taken. Secondly, the otter had an erection, and it was now pressed into his thigh. Thirdly, he was as naked as a jaybird, and the otter’s hand was rather close to his groin. Dale stayed absolutely still, blushing fiercely, as the closeness of contact caused is own penis to stir, slightly. This is certainly an intriguing first contact, he laughed, inwardly. And yet, why do I feel so at ease with this alien creature? As if I’ve known him a long time, already…
The otter humped a couple of times, his drooling shaft rubbing along Dale’s skin, and then nuzzled Dale’s ear in its sleep, murmuring something, before going still again. Dale moaned, gently, as whiskers and lips tickled his sensitive ear. He could smell the otter’s breath, now, which had a slightly fishy odor to it, but which was largely pleasant. He turned his head a bit and looked at it. It was a handsome enough creature in its own way, which its broad mouth and spiky blond hair. It wriggled again, giving a couple more humps, and then its paw contacted his cock. He groaned loudly, and the creature woke up, sitting up quickly, regarding him with slightly startled green eyes.
“Um…hi,” Dale said, lamely. “My name’s Dale. Thanks for helping me.”
The otter blinked at him a few times then looked up and down his body, slowly. When it saw his erection, it wrinkled its brow for a moment, and then grinned. “Losta redonesa?”
“Uhhh…sure.” He grinned in what he hoped was a friendly manner. The otter laughed, a short barking sound, and, after a moment, Dale laughed, too. When their laughter stopped, it continued to look him up and down, and then, suddenly, ran a finger over the tip of his cock, much to his surprise, making his whole body shudder. “Oh, my,” Dale breathed. “You’re a friendly guy, aren’t you?”
The otter grinned at him, engagingly. It leaned back a bit, showing off its own erect cock. “Sta mayna,” he said, with what sounded like a rueful chortle.
“Been a while for you?” Dale said with a sympathetic grin. “Sorry to hear it, friend. I had a lover myself, but he tried to kill me, so I guess the engagement is off.”
The otter frowned a bit. “Desti namanay,” it said, rubbing its whiskers in a thoughtful manner. “Ondalla restagar nemene?” It seemed to be pondering. “Cadrathon espa badaga fos nama ges gadrel aba Shann.” It cocked its head to one side. “Gadrelin namanayin, may namatesta redonesa vos cadrathinda. A sayin nes?”
Dale chuckled. “You lost me completely there.”
The otter chuckled. It gently pressed him back down on the moss, as it did before. “But my wounds seem to be…omygod!” Dale began to protest, and then was stunned as the otter slipped down his body, leaned down, and took his shaft into his muzzle. “Now wait a…whoa! That…feels…wow!” The creature slowly pushed its muzzle down until its whiskers were pressed into Dale’s groin fuzz, and swallowed, licking all around Dale’s shaft. “I…oh God…that is sooo good.” He moaned. “Real friendly people, these otters,” he moaned. “Hell of a way to greet visitors.” And then, despite the strangeness of all that had happened, and the fact that the creature locked onto his shaft wasn’t even human, he closed his eyes and lay back, and let himself relax.
*\t\t*\t\t*
Jiakan woke from a dream in which he was mating with one of his bond-brothers in the Tribe to find himself humping, unconsciously at the pinkling’s thigh. Embarrassed and startled, he sat up. The pinkling grimaced and starting talking in his strange staccato language. The Singer blinked. Did this furless creature think he could understand its words? His eyes were slowly drawn to the pink creature’s erect, sheathless shaft, which was standing straight and tall. Despite himself, the tonokai smiled. “Your seed rises?” he asked, with a chuckle. This was the traditional greeting from male to male in the Tribes, asking if the need for release out of mating season was great, and, by implication, offering to help, if it were.
The creature smiled, too, which made Jiakan feel a bit at ease. It appeared that smiling was something the two races shared together. The tone in his nonsense sounds was so lost, that Jiakan could not help but laugh. The creature laughed, too. We are much alike, Jiakan said, with a feeling of inner warmth. He found himself instinctively liking the furless, helpless animal, despite its strangeness. I wonder if he feels the connection of the Worldsong, Jiakan mused. He ran a finger down the creature’s shaft. After all, he has entered into a kind of communion with my arousal, even in my sleep.
The furless one seemed startled, and said something hoarsely. Jiakan noticed, however, the way the pink cock jumped when touched. He leaned back, smiling, to show his own erection. “We are linked in this excitement,” he said, softly, hoping the creature would understand his tone, if not his words. Jiakan frowned, however, as the creature rattled off a long string of syllables. “You don’t understand at all,” Jiakan said, frowning. “How can I make you hear my words?” He rubbed his whiskers, thinking, then mused aloud, “Your Lifesong is too strange for me to just Sing words into you.” Then he cocked his head. “I could know your Lifesong better if I took some of your seed into me. May I do so?”
The furless one looked hopelessly lost, and Jiakan heard the frustration in his reply. The Singer chuckled, softly. He simply pushed the creature back down, and, before it protested, slipped his muzzle over the smooth pink shaft. The pinkling began speaking in a strained tone, in between moans. But then he simply lay back, smiled, and enjoyed. That is good, Jiakan thought, as he slowly began to bob his head. The creature is willing for the communion between us. He had learned many tricks in the pleasing of his bond-brothers, and he happily used them all to please this strange creature. We are so much alike, Jiakan thought to himself as he took the creature’s shaft into his throat, gently. We even please the same.
*\t\t*\t\t*
This is so different, Dale thought to himself. Why is he doing this? The ecologist lay back, one hand idly stroking the otter-alien’s headfur. He felt a climax slowly approaching and tried to hold back, but it came on with the intense inevitability of an oncoming train. “I’m going to cum,” he said, aloud. “Maybe you should pull off?”
The otter looked at him with inquisitive, intelligent eyes. God, his eyes are so beautiful, he thought, incongruously. Like a deep pool, surrounded by dark green pine trees. As he thought it, he felt his cock jump once, but, before he could speak to warn the otter again, the creature shoved its head down, taking his shaft into its throat. Dale squealed as his climax flared up and out of his control. His whole body went rigid, and he orgasmed in the otter-thing’s throat. It, for its part, gulped and swallowed eagerly, as spasm after spasm sent jets of his cum down its gullet. Jeez…how lucky am I? I’ve landed on the planet of the homosexual, deep-throating otters. I could get used to that prospect.
To his surprise, the otter lifted its head up and began to sing in the unearthly tones that he had heard it use above the waterfall. The song it sang now, however, was almost hauntingly familiar. The sound echoed deep down into him, and he felt that he was being touched more intimately than he ever had before. The sound slid through him in echoing circles, and he moaned, and then cried out at the feeling of an incredibly intense second orgasm rocked him. This orgasm, however, seemed made of pure energy, for no seed was spilt. He shook like a leaf, the otter-creature’s hand resting gently on his belly. It felt profoundly moved and shaken by the experience, and he lay there, panting, trying to come to terms with the sensations, even as they began to ebb and pull away, leaving a searing afterglow in their place. “I…I dunno what inspired that, or how you made that happen” Dale said shakily, “but thank you.”
The creature lifted its head. “You’re welcome.”
“Ack! You can speak English!”
It cocked its head to the side. “What is English?”
Dale gestured. “English is the name of...um…the words I use.”
It smiled. “Your words. I do not speak your words. You are not speaking them now.”
Dale frowned. “What do mean? Of course…” He paused. “You’re right. I’m not speaking English. What am I speaking?”
The otter smiled. “We don’t really have a name for it. It is our words.”
Dale rubbed his head, beginning to wonder if he’d had a concussion, or whether this was all a dream. “How come I can talk your words?”
The otter smiled. “I am a Singer. I Sang them into you.”
Dale shook his head. “I don’t understand any of this.”
The Singer stroked the human’s bare belly, softly. “When I took your Lifesong into me, through your seed, I was able to alter it a little, to make it more like the planet’s Worldsong. As a result, I was able to sing the words into you, and to heal your wounds the rest of the way.”
Dale blinked and examined his shoulder and leg. There was not even a little pain from them now. “You…healed me? Through this Lifesong? By Singing?”
The otter nodded, smiling. “I liked your Lifesong. There’s something good about it…I feel…I don’t know…a communion between our Songs.”
Dale shook his head. “Even when I know your words, I don’t understand what they mean.”
The otter laughed. “Let us start with the shore, and work our way into the ocean. My name is Jiakan. I am the Master Singer of the tonokai.”
Dale smiled. “Dale Carr. Nice to meet you.”
The otter smiled. “What are you Dale-Carr? What are your people called?”
Dale puzzled over this. “Human, I think, is the word you’re looking for. I’m a human.”
“Hy-oo-man,” Jiakan said, running his tongue over the unfamiliar syllables. “Hello, hyooman.”
Dale laughed. “Human,” he repeated, trying to give the proper inflection. He shook his head. “How did you heal me, and make me understand your words? What is Singing?”
Jiakan was startled. “Do you not have Singers where you come from?”
Dale shrugged. “Singers? Sure. But they don’t heal the sick, and their singing doesn’t sound like yours.”
The tonokai puzzled over this. “Then…what good are they? Why do you not get new Singers?”
Dale smiled, bemusedly. “Well, no human singers are able to do these things. Can all Singers here do magic?”
Jiakan chuckled. “No magic. Just Singing. Good Singers learn to touch the Lifesongs of those around them, or the Song of a river, or forest. I am a Master Singer. I can touch the Worldsong itself.”
“Master Singers are rare, I take it?”
Jiakan smiled, proudly. “I am the first one in many generations.”
“So how does it work?”
“It is…hard to explain to an outsider. I change the Songs, a little tiny bit, and it makes the changes happen. Does that help?”
“Not really,” Dale said cheerfully, “But I’m sure it will, one of these days.”
Jiakan nodded. “Why were those men chasing you, with their Dissonances?”
“Their dissonances? You mean their weapons?”
“They pointed things at you, and you became hurt?”
Dale nodded, grimly. “Those’re guns.”
Jiakan frowned. “Gah-oons,” he said, trying out the unfamiliar word. “Why were they chasing you?”
Dale sighed, softly. “They want to do some terrible things. I found out about it, and I tried to stop them. I don’t know how many of the crew are involved. Definitely the other people Gates sent. But how many others?”
Jiakan rubbed his whiskers. “Now I do not understand. There are more of you?”
“Oh, yes. We came in a…well…a spaceship, from another planet.”
Jiakan puzzled over that a bit. “A…spaceship? You came from the stars?”
“From another planet, out among the stars, yes.”
Jiakan nodded. “That is why your Songs are so different. I could not Sing you well without bringing some of you into myself. That’s why I took your seed.”
Dale blushed, a little. “You’re lucky. Most humans don’t like…um…when males do things like that to other males. I’m one of the few that does. Another human might’ve been more freaked out.” He blushed, smiling a bit. “It was really nice, though. Thanks.”
Jiakan smiled in return. “I like to please and take pleasure. But…what you say makes no sense to me. Some of your Tribe do not like pleasure?”
“Well, not from another male.”
“What about when the females are not in heat?” Jiakan asked, trying to work this out in his head. “Do they not seek pleasure then?”
“Uhhh…” Dale tried to phrase his answer properly, in a way his friend would understand. “Our females don’t have a mating season, or a heat. They can breed any time.”
Jiakan’s eyes went wide with surprise. “You must be over-run with kits, then! Always in season!”
Dale chuckled. “Well, no. We don’t always just mate when we want to feel pleasure. We can pleasure ourselves, for one, and we have ways of…breeding, without actually making a child. On my world, it usually requires a strong bond of friendship or love before two humans will want to be with each other like that. Some people greatly frown upon casual mating.”
“Oh, no,” Jiakan said, looking fretful. “Did I offend you by taking your seed?”
Dale smiled. “You know…I should probably be a lot more disturbed that a member of another…Tribe…took my seed, but I’m not. It felt great, and you are…well…” Dale paused, looking over the tonokai Singer. He was attractive, in a strange sort of way. The proportions of his body didn’t match the human ideal of beauty, but he was honest, and open, and gentle. “You seem like you have a lot of the kinds of qualities I look for in a mate, anyway,” Dale admitted, with a blush.
Jiakan smiled and stroked the human’s cock with a forefinger. To his delight, and amusement, it began to rise again. “You still need the release of seed?” the otter chuckled.
“I don’t know why,” Dale grumbled. “Those two orgasms you gave me were pretty shattering.” He spied the otter’s own erection, red and glistening. “And, besides, you still haven’t…um…released your seed, yet.”
Jiakan looked down, and smiled. “You wish to help me?”
Dale blushed. “Do your people…mate…below the tails? I’m sure when you mate your females you do, but do males?”
Jiakan looked serious. “Not often, but sometimes. Is that what you want?”
Dale paused. Was this what he wanted? Finally, he nodded. “Please?”
Jiakan sat back, looking over the human. It was true that the human was oddly gawky and shorter in torso, but he was appealing in other ways, and the sensation of soft, smooth skin along his fur was somewhat intoxicating. “We call it the toshtai,” he said, softly. “It is a very serious thing among my people. I have never done it before, because the bond it creates is very strong, and I have never found a male, or female, that I wished to be close to in that way.”
Dale paled, a little. “Like a marriage? I didn’t mean that I wanted…”
Jiakan placed his paw over the human's lips. “There is something about you, Dale-Carr. I feel a link to you I cannot explain. I would like to perform the toshtai with you, if you wish it. Perhaps…because you are not tonokai…it may not make the bond. I don’t know. But…if it does…I like you, Dale-Carr. I would not mind being bonded to you.”
Dale-Carr looked at his strange new friend. “I like you, too, Jiakan. I can think of worse people to be bonded to.”
Jiakan smiled. He rolled over, on top of the human, and pressed his lips to Dale’s, even as he gently took Dale’s shaft in his hand and squeezed it. The human moaned, beneath him, and Jiakan felt his blood rising. It did not matter that they did not look the same. In their hearts, he knew, they were. He kissed slowly down the human’s soft, smooth body, tasting the salty sweat droplets on his lips, his blond hair hanging down around his face.
Dale shuddered, his body slowly writhing as lips and whiskers pressed here and there. Jiakan was a gentle, but commanding presence, and he closed his eyes, shuddering, letting his hands slide down to caress his lover’s hair and shoulders. When the otter took a nipple into his muzzle and bit down, lightly, Dale felt his cock jump, and groaned, heavily.
Jiakan tugged the nipple with sharp little teeth a couple of times, delighting in the moans of his partner. Dale was a deliciously vocal playmate, and Jiakan smiled to himself, enjoying hearing how much the human was getting aroused. He, himself, could feel his shaft erect and straining as it slid over the human’s sweat-slick skin. He lifted his hips, not wanting the release to come too soon. He kissed down, running his tongue around the human’s navel, gently and giving one long lick down his lover’s erect shaft, eliciting a long, sustained groan.
Dale surrendered to the pleasure, fingers gripping into the mossy bed he lay on. “Oh, Ji,” he sighed, softly. His hips lifted, involuntarily, but Jiakan slipped down and off, to kneel between Dale’s legs. As Jiakan lifted his legs, Dale gripped his knees to give the otter better access.
Jiakan smiled, taking a look at Dale’s fuzzy pink hole. “You humans have fur in the funniest places.” He gave his glistening cock a few strokes, and precum drooled out, adding to the slickness. He rubbed a slippery finger over Dale’s anus and was rewarded with an encouraging moan. Gently, he pressed the finger in, feeling Dale spread and then tighten around him. He wiggled the finger a bit, then began slowly rubbing it in and out. Dale gasped, his back arching, as the otterkin’s thick finger slipped over his prostate. Jiakan paused, and then, with a wicked smile, rubbed back and forth over the sensitive spot, causing the human to writhe and moan. “You need this, don’t you?” Jiakan said, softly, smiling.
Dale whimpered, lifting his head. “Need you,” he agreed, breathily.
Jiakan gathered the human’s hips into his arms, scooted forward on his knees to line up, and, with a slow, but insistent motion, pressed the tapered tip of his thick cock deeply into his lover’s body. Dale’s head fell back with a throttled cry, and he gripped Jiakan’s wrists, tightly. “Easy, my lover” Jiakan murmured, softly, bending down to kiss the human’s belly a couple of times. “Is it too much?”
Dale’s felt a tear trickle from his eye. He could not remember ever feeling more fulfilled than by this gentle creature’s loving touches. “No,” he whispered. “It’s perfect. Please don’t stop.”
Jiakan did not stop. He slowly rocked, each time pressing a bit more of his shaft into the tight, clenching hole. When he finally felt his hips pressed to Dale’s ass, he sighed and relaxed a bit. “Give me just a moment,” the tonokai chuckled. “This feels…I never knew the toshtai would feel…so…” He laughed. “I don’t have the words. It’s wonderful. You’re wonderful! I want to be bonded with you, Dale-Carr.”
Dale laughed, weakly. “Dale. Just call me Dale.”
Jiakan smiled. “I think I love you, Dale.”
Dale smiled. “Well, it may just be lust, talking, but I think I love you, too. Or maybe this is the toshtai bond you mentioned.”
Jiakan sighed, happily. “I do not know. I’m ready to keep going, if you are?” At Dale’s smiling nod, Jiakan began to slowly move his hips, causing his broad shaft to slide in and out, pulling Dale’s anus taut, and then pushing in again. With each inward stroke, Dale gave a soft moan, and his hands began to caress the tonokai’s slick pelt. Jiakan’s nose smelled his human lover’s precum, and he looked down. Dale’s cock was strained almost to a painful point, and the Singer smiled. Gripping Dale’s hips tightly, he pushed his head down, exercising the massive spinal flexibility of his species, and took Dale’s cock in his mouth.
“Oh!” Dale cried aloud, his face lit with surprise and passion. “Oh, God! Ji…that…oh, man!” He began thrusting into the tonokai’s muzzle as the thick shaft moved within him. Dale felt lost in a sea of incredible sensations, unable to stop what was happening, even if he wanted to. He held Jiakan’s head in his hands, fingers stroking the ears, stunned by the passion with which this alien creature took him and pleasured him at once. “I…can’t last long like this, Ji!”
Jiakan heard his lover’s words and gave a half-nod. He gripped the human’s hips and began a series of powerful thrust, using his tail to give extra leverage, showing Dale what powerful swimming and thrusting muscles a tonokai had. The human began to wail, and Jiakan felt and tasted the increase in flowing precum, which he lapped up eagerly as he sucked and coaxed Dale towards a strong orgasm. With an ear cocked, as always, towards the Worldsong, he heard as his Song and Dale’s joined together. Almost despite himself, he began to voice the tune, resonating Dale’s shaft with the notes of their combined song.
Dale screamed as he felt the hum around his and through his veins like fire. He gripped Jiakan’s head and thrust up hard as his orgasm hit, sending wave after wave of cum into Jiakan’s muzzle, where it was greedily swallowed.
Jiakan felt the Song in his own body, even as he felt Dale tightening around him in release, and the tonokai held on hard as his body began to buck and shudder. He was only dimly aware of the physical sensations of his orgasm, as he felt his soul and the Song climax, sending waves of music in all directions. He milked the cock in his muzzle as he felt Dale milk his own shaft. And, finally, he collapsed atop his lover’s body, physically and spiritually exhausted. The two lay then, intertwined, sweating, and utterly a part of one another.
Jiakan nuzzled his lover’s belly, tenderly. “That was…I am in awe of it,” he gasped.
Dale could not speak for some time. He opened his eyes, intending to tell Jiakan how much he loved him, and stared in wonder. “Did we do that?” he whispered reverently.
Jiakan opened his eyes and lifted his head. On every surface, the cave walls had sprouted colonies of tiny flowers of many colors. “We made a living rainbow,” Jiakan said with a little laugh of joy. “I have never used the Song like that before.”
Dale smiled, touching his lover’s face. “I hope we can do that again. And again, and again.”
Jiakan grinned. “But what about your people? Don’t you have anyone among them you’ll miss?”
Dale shrugged. “Not really. I had a lover named Bradley, but we broke up a few months ago. And then there was Groszmann.” Sudden realization flooded through him. “Oh, my God! Groszmann! What happened to him and Captain Inman?”
Jiakan winced. “I…I Sang the river up at them and swept them away…they were trying to hurt you.” He whimpered, softly. “I may have killed them. I am sorry, if they meant something to you.”
Dale shook his head. “You don’t understand. They and some of the others want to do terrible things to this place, to your people. Things that would make your planet die.”
Jiakan frowned, pursing his lips, then widened his eyes in understanding. “The Great Dissonance I felt. It must come from them?”
Dale stood, shakily. “I…I don’t know, but I think so. You hear the Song of the World, right? If the Song doesn’t like what they’re doing, it can’t be good.”
Jiakan frowned. “Can you lead me to where they are?”
Dale nodded. “Do you have some clothes I can wear?”
Jiakan was puzzled. “Why?”
Dale thought on that for a moment. “You’re right. Never mind. Let’s go.”
*\t\t*\t\t*
They emerged from the jungle onto the coast. For a brief moment, the beauty of it struck both males: the green of the jungle, the gold of the sand, and the blue of the sky and ocean. Then, Jiakan’s eyes fell on something, and he recoiled, in shock. “W-what is that?”
Dale looked. “That’s our base camp. It’s our ship, with some modules extended out to provide food and things we need.”
Jiakan stared at the squat monstrosity that crouched on the shore like a twisted metal crab. He whispered, hoarsely, “It is the Great Dissonance.”
Dale stared at it. “It’s…it’s pumping in sea water, filtering it, and emitting the waste from the ship. But there’s plenty of water aboard ship. They must be preparing water to take it back to my home planet.” He shook his head. “I don’t know what to do. They’ll cut down tries, take your plants and animals. They’ll just destroy everything. Your planet’s eco-system is so interconnected…”
Jiakan touched his lover’s arm. “Is there anyone aboard who you would see saved?”
Dale frowned. “I don’t know. I think some must feel like I do.”
“Can you get them out of there, somehow?”
Dale looked over at the ship. “I think I can, yes.”
Jiakan nodded and stepped back, then listened for a moment and slowly began to Sing. For a heartbeat, Dale listened, awed by the strangeness and richness of the Song, and then he ran towards the base. Picking up a huge piece of driftwood, he ran at the most fragile unit, the hydroponics tent, and began battering it. Rents quickly appeared in the clear material, and an alarm sounded from somewhere within. A figure ran into the tent, and Dale recognized Maria Choi, the mission team’s medical officer. “Get everyone out,” he yelled, not fully understanding what Jiakan had planned. When she just stared, he realized he’d yelled in tonokai words and yelled again, in English. “Something’s going to happen! Get everyone out!” She stared at him, and then nodded, slowly and ran back into the ship.
Back along the beach, Jiakan was Singing up a powerful force. It had last visited when he had been only 5. It had taken his mother away, and the whole Tribe had moved further into the jungle, into safety. They would be safe. He saw Dale running towards him. Dale would be safe. He would make sure of it. The Singer took his friend’s hand in his and squeezed it, smiling, as he finished his Song.
A group of people emerged from the craft, including Gates’ men, and, to Dale’s horror, including Groszmann. Groszmann looked pale and weak, but he held a blaster as he advanced on the pair. He smirked as he approached, taking in Dale’s nudity. “Gone native, Carr?” he asked, drawing up a bit short, gun still trained on the pair.
“It’s over, Groszmann,” he said, in English. “You won’t be hurting this planet, or anywhere else, any more.” He raised his voice. “Get everyone out of the ship. This is ending here.”
Groszmann was incredulous. “You’re threatening us? You’re naked. You have a primitive alien by your side. We have guns. What part of this equation isn’t working for you?”
A dull roar slowly coming into hearing range caused everyone to turn and look out to sea. A wall of water, a huge tsunami, was rolling over the ocean, the sky darkening into storm around it as it came. “You missed part of the equation, Groszmann,” Dale said, his voice tinged with awe and fear. “The planet doesn’t want you here.”
Groszmann stared, slack-jawed, at the coming wall. Other members of the Isis team ran back to the ship and began evacuating it, deploying emergency life rafts, and harnessing themselves to flotation devices. Groszmann wheeled back to stare at them both, then he narrowed his eyes, staring at Jiakan. “You,” he growled. “You did this, somehow, didn’t you? You made the river kill the captain, and you almost killed me. And now you want to wipe us all out?” He raised his gun. “I’ll kill you, first!”
“No!” Dale yelled, as he saw the danger. He dove at his tonokai lover and bore him to the ground as the blaster shot sailed overhead. He heard the whine as the blaster began recharging, and he dragged himself and the otter up to run.
Jiakan didn’t seem inclined to run, however. “You have brought Dissonance to my world,” he said to Groszmann, who blinked, not understanding the tonokai language. “I cannot fathom why, but I cannot allow it to continue, either.” He took Dale’s hand and squeezed. “My toshtai mate and I will not bow before the evil you bring here.”
Groszmann blinked again, and then started to laugh. “Ohhh, my,” he crowed. “Gotten very friendly with the natives, haven’t you, Carr? I know ecologists like to get into their work, but I think most of them toe the line at bestiality.”
Dale looked up, as the wave looming over them darkened the sky. It had come faster than any of them would’ve guessed. “He’s more human than you, asshole!” Carr yelled, and then the world was water.
Jiakan did not flee the wave. He grabbed Dale and leaped straight at it, his lean body knifing into it, pulling the human along behind him. Groszmann stared up at it, dumbly, and was crushed against the beach as by a huge hand. Jiakan grabbed Dale with arms and legs, using his strong tail to propel them both upwards through the water. When he felt Dale struggle, he pressed his lips to the human’s mouth and blew air into his lungs. Together they drove upwards through the murky water, and together they broke the surface, clinging to each other, gasping in lungfuls of air. Jiakan rolled to his back, like a living raft, and held Dale to him.
“Jesus,” Dale gasped, seeing lightning flash and rain falling all around them. He turned and saw the others, holding tight to their rafts and buoys. “But won’t your people…?”
Jiakan shook his head. “We built up on high ground and deep inland. They will not be touched.”
Dale nodded, and then lay his head on Jiakan’s belly. “Now what?”
“Now, the Dissonance will be swept deep into the ocean, where the Song of the Deep covers all other Songs. The threat is over.”
Dale frowned. “The other humans?”
Jiakan shrugged. “If your people wish to join us, I think they will be welcomed, as long as they respect the Songs. If they wish to stay on their own, that is okay, too.” He smiled. “I imagine we could learn a lot from each other, though.”
Dale sighed. “So we’re safe? But for how long? Other expeditions might come. More Dissonances. What if…?”
Jiakan touched his lips, gently. “We’ll Sing that tune when we come to it. For now, we are safe.”
Dale nodded, and hugged the tonokai tightly. “So…what happens to us?”
Jiakan looked towards the jungle. The water from the Great Wave was already receding, and he had to stroke towards the jungle to prevent them being towed out to sea. “I should head back to the Tribes. And I hope you’ll come with me. The other tonokai will be anxious to meet you.” He tugged on a lock of Dale’s hair, playfully. “Just remember, if a tonokai male asks you if you have released seed, don’t say no, unless you want him take yours from you.”
Dale snickered. “It is the planet of the homosexual, deep-throating otters! When they named it Nova Eden, they didn’t know the half of it!”
Jiakan blinked. “I do not understand your words.”
Dale smiled and kissed him, gently. “Never mind,” he said. “I’ll explain later. Let’s round up the others and start swimming home.”
Jiakan touched Dale’s chest, over his heart. “I am home,” he said smiling.
Worldsong by Andrew “Aethan” French
PAGE 13
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