5
BRANDI
Did I mention that the human brain is stupid? Because it's really stupid.
Aliens shapeshifting into humans was crazy by itself. But what really broke my brain was when Tyrix stepped forward, and then three wooden chairs and a coffee table suddenly materialized from thin air, creating a little meeting space in the middle of the clearing. I felt dizzy, and put a hand to my head, and tried to calm my breathing.
Kerix was at my side immediately, putting one large hand on my arm. "Are you okay?"
"Arix was wrong," Tyrix said. "Perhaps this was a mistake..."
"No, she just needs a moment." Kerix guided me to the chair, and once I was sitting down I started feeling better. I shook my head and began to apologize.
"Most creatures require centuries of earth time to acclimate to the knowledge you have received in a day. You humans are a hardy species indeed."
"Thanks, I guess." I considered asking them to create some hard liquor out of the air but decided this was the sort of thing I needed to be sober to handle.
Kerix sat in one of the chairs across from me, and then Tyrix joined him and smiled. "Are these forms comforting to you?" He gestured at the table and chairs.
"Yeah, they're fine."
"Good. Then we will begin our explanation for this meeting. If you are ready."
"That'd be great." I took a deep breath. "Yeah, I'm as ready as I'm ever gunna be."
Kerix leaned back in his chair, testing how it felt against his back. His eyes found mine, and his brown eyes held the weight of a million years.
"We are from the Karak Dominion of Planets. Each planet in the Dominion contains at least one intelligent species, carefully scouted ahead of time and nurtured. Over time, we have brought many such species under the fold of the Dominion. Slowly, we give them technology and knowledge. Slowly, they become integrated and assimilated. Always peacefully, at a pace which is cautious and conservative. Such a process has been completed nearly a thousand times, with a thousand species.
"One such species, from a planet here in your own galaxy, is the Wolvae. They are extremely similar to the canis lupus species here on earth, although several orders of magnitude more advanced."
"Wolves," I said, recognizing the name.
"They walk on four legs and have fur as black as a starless sky," Kerix continued, while Tyrix nodded along beside him. "Their jaws are powerful, and their hearing and sight senses are extremely strong. They are apex predators on their own planet, and would be on most of the planets in the Dominion."
"However," Tyrix picked up, "they are also extremely violent by nature. They revel in carnage, tearing other carbon lifeforms to shreds, breaking their bones between their massive jaws. It is almost akin to sexual ecstasy for them."
"Normally we would have avoided such a species. However, they shared a star system with another species we intended to bring into the Dominion, and once we were there the Wolvae could not be ignored. And we Karak are reticent to euthanize entire species in great swaths. It took a significant amount of time to calm and nurture the Wolvae, taming them as you humans might say, until most of the violent tendencies were eliminated. Now the Wolvae are proper members of the Dominion, and have contributed much to our expansion in the years that followed."
I had no idea what all of this had to do with me, but I didn't dare interrupt them.
"Most Wolvae," Tyrix said, a grim look on his face. "There are... others."
"The Rabid Wolvae are a breed which was not tamed," Kerix agreed. "The genetic predilection for violence instead thrived in the Rabid Wolvae. But such genes came at the cost of greater intelligence, and they had no capabilities for spaceflight, so they were left in exile in the far reaches of their star system. But then, thanks to forces outside our Karak understanding, they were given the technology to leave their own planet. Spacecraft factories that should have been beyond their understanding. And soon an entire fleet of these Rabid Wolvae was wandering the stars."
He paused to let that sink in.
"It has only been a short period of time since the Rabid Wolvae insurrection. A mere 22,000 of your human years."
22,000 years? He must have misspoken, or converted things wrong, but I didn't have time to interrupt.
"Their adoption of our technology makes it difficult for the Dominion to track their movements," Tyrix said. His emerald gaze pierced me, made me feel nude. "Often we arrive too late to the site of one of their invasions, only to find carnage and destruction in their wake. No fewer than ten intelligent species planned for admittance to the Dominion have been lost to such attacks."
"But this time," Kerix said eagerly, "we were able to track their route ahead of time."
I waited for more, but silence stretched.
"Wait a second. So are you telling me they're here? On earth?"
Tyrix shook his head, which made his curtain of yellow hair shimmer. "Four earth days ago, a Wolvae Corsair was detected approaching this star system." He didn't elaborate.
"So what does that mean? Has it landed on earth?"
Kerix shrugged. "We do not know for sure. But based on standard Wolvae attack procedure, they would have stopped at other planets in the system that harbor potential life."
"Specifically the moons Titan, Europa, and Enceladus," Tyrix added.
Any other time, that sentence by itself would have floored me. Titan was covered in methane lakes, whereas Enceladus and Europa were ice moons. All were suspected to have the potential for human life, and as a sci-fi nerd I knew NASA missions were planned to try to break through the ice crust of the latter. Hearing confirmation that they did...
I made a conscious decision to wave it off. What was the point of getting excited about potential life in our solar system when I was literally speaking to two aliens right now? Their Mormons-at-the-door appearance made it easy to forget that part.
"So how many of them are there? Once they're done with the other moons, is earth going to be invaded?"
"No," Tyrix said, crossing his arms over his broad chest. "A Corsair is only a scouting ship. A typical crew would be three to five Wolvae."
"Three to five? Is that it?" I barked a laugh. "Then what's the big deal? Unless these things have bullet-proof fur, Mountain Home base alone could take them out." Hell, the two guards outside my door last night could do the job with their assault rifles.
"Corsair sweeps always predicate an invasion," Kerix said grimly. "Advanced reconnaissance. If the Wolvae come in numbers, with a true invasion, there would be millions of them."
"And they have their own abilities," Tyrix added. "Not weapons exactly, but..."
"Your human race would likely defeat such an invasion, but it would be bloody, and unfortunate."
I thought about millions of rabid wolves running through crowded cities like Los Angeles or New York City. By the time the National Guard could be deployed, thousands would have died. It would be a bloodbath, outcome aside.
"Which brings us to the reason we are here," Kerix said.
"Our duty is to inform you, the human race, of all of this," Tyrix added. "And if the Corsair sweep can be eliminated before reporting back to the primary Wolvae Fleet, then perhaps they will choose to avoid an invasion altogether. As soon as they land, we can--"
They both flinched, then whipped their heads to face the north.
"What is it?" I asked.
In the distance drifted a blood-curling howl, first from one wolf, then answered by three more simultaneously.
"They are here," Kerix said, voice dripping with dread.