Chapter 6

The next morning, Antaska ate another meal of different good-tasting but still unidentifiable foods in the dining hall. She was thrilled to see the unbelievably handsome human male staring at her again. The same female sat next to him glaring at Antaska. And the same tiny voice spoke in her head telling her to look away. But Antaska didn’t.

Then M. Hoyvil took Antaska back to their quarters to get Potat for their visit to the doctor. The small cat was waiting in the main room.

“We’re both going to the doctor for a checkup,” Antaska announced.

With fur fluffed high, Potat walked on stiff legs back to their bedroom and jumped up on the bed. She dug her claws deep into the bedspread and left them there. Antaska was not surprised by this behavior.

“It looks like she’ll have to ride in the carrier,” she said to M. Hoyvil.

Antaska walked to the bed and lifted Potat up in the direction that would extract her claws without pulling on them.

Did she hear the tiny voice speaking in her mind again? “You overbearing bully! Do realize how rude this is?”

Just imaging things again! thought Antaska.

She scooped the cat up and placed her in the carrier. Then she zipped it up with the quick efficiency of a person experienced in avoiding scratches.

A long walk down curved, outward and upward slanting hallways led to a tall door toward the outer part of the ship. M. Hoyvil stopped and placed his palm on a gray circle about twice the size of his hand. The circle began to glow and brighten, and then the door slid silently up and open.

“Come right in,” rumbled a deep voice from inside the door.

Antaska, pulling the floating cat carrier, followed M. Hoyvil into a large, circular room with a hard white floor and bare white walls. A gigantic-sized deep green-skinned alien stood next to one of four medical examination tables. He was heavier and much taller than M. Hoyvil, but not as tall as the giant alien who had stood next to their table in the dining hall.

This alien also looked much older, with wrinkles and a head of close-cropped graying green hair. Instead of the bright red ship suit worn by the other large aliens, he was dressed in a white medical jacket, white pants, and shoes. A few medical instruments Antaska was unfamiliar with were attached to his jacket and hanging around his neck.

“Who do we have here?” inquired the enormous doctor as he bent down to look in Potat’s cage.

“I’ve brought Antaska and her cat Potat for their checkups,” M. Hoyvil replied.

“Ah, yes! Hello, I’m Dr. Daji. Please be seated on the table with Potat so we can begin,” the doctor said to Antaska.

She lifted the carrier with Potat up onto the five-foot-high examination table. Then she opened the door and reached in to get Potat. The little cat scooted to the back of the cage and growled.

“If she could speak, she would be saying ‘bad man,’” thought Antaska.

Dr. Daji said nothing, but he stared at Potat, and Antaska heard faint whispering, as if from very far away. One of two whispering voices was a very deep bass-pitched male, and one was a much higher-pitched soprano female.

Antaska wasn’t sure, but she thought she heard the male voice say the words, “won’t hurt.” The whispering continued for a minute, and then Potat stopped growling and stepped calmly out from the carrier.

The corners of M. Hoyvil’s eyes lifted high. He turned to look at the doctor. They started at each other in silence for several minutes while Antaska sat waiting. She had accepted these strange staring sessions as normal for the telepathic Verdantes. So she waited, and her thoughts drifted back to the disturbingly attractive man from the dining hall.

Antaska heard more whispering, but she didn’t pay much attention to it. The male and female whisperers she had heard before were now joined by a higher-pitched tenor male voice. In the midst of her musings, Antaska thought she heard the words “intelligence” and “toddler.” But the words didn’t make any sense, and they were much less interesting than the man who was on her mind.

If Antaska had fully understood the silent telepathic conversations that just had taken place, she might have been more interested.

M. Hoyvil, on the other hand, was very interested in the ongoing conversation. First, he heard Dr. Daji talking to Potat.

“Don’t be afraid, little one, I promise I won’t hurt you,” Dr. Daji had assured Potat. “I only want help you and your friend.”

“My pet, my pet,” Potat had answered possessively.

“Yes, or course, she is your pet, please forgive my mistake. I only want to help you and your pet. Will you please come out?” the large doctor had asked in his deep but gentle telepathic voice.

“Not hurt?” Potat asked again.

After further assurances from the doctor, she had been convinced, and she stepped out of the cage.

Then M. Hoyvil spoke telepathically to Dr. Daji.

“Can these small creatures really understand and speak the telepathic language when they are pets of the non-telepathic humans?” M. Hoyvil asked, unable to keep the shock out of his voice.

“Why yes,” was the reply. “Although these creatures have the intelligence of a young toddler, they are telepathically sentient. But because Earth humans aren’t telepathic, they aren’t aware of this. And because cats don’t have the vocal cords to express themselves in a way that would be understandable to them, the humans believe that cats don’t have language and aren’t even sentient. It is really quite amusing that both species think they are the owner, and the other is the pet,” the doctor concluded with a rumbling chuckle.

M. Hoyvil watched Antaska take the cage off the table and climb up the steps to sit next to Potat.

“We’ll start with a scan,” said Dr. Daji, speaking out loud.

He pressed a black button on the side of the table, and Antaska and Potat were surrounded by blue light. Then a wide holographic screen appeared from floor to ceiling on one side of the examination table. The screen was filled with slowly scrolling symbols and pictures. The huge doctor read the screen, occasionally pushing a button to stop and then to continue the information flow. After a few minutes, the last of the symbols rose up to disappear at the top of the screen. Then the screen itself disappeared.

Dr. Daji spoke to M. Hoyvil telepathically while Antaska and Potat sat waiting.

“As we expect with pets from Earth, they both have some cellular damage from the radioactive wastes that still remain on the planet,” the doctor explained. “Fortunately, in the 10,000 years that we’ve been caring for humans, we’ve cleaned up much of the waste left from their prehistoric wars. The cellular damage we see in humans has been decreasing. And when we take them as pets, we can give them medical treatment to repair their cells. I’ll begin the cellular repair today. With the medicines they’ll receive in their food, this problem should be fixed in less than a year.

“As suggested by your human’s appearance, her DNA contains genes from both of the two separated Earth populations that survived the prehistoric nuclear and environmental destruction of most life on the planet. This includes a fine mix of the ancient races that covered the Earth in pre-apocalyptic times.

“If you’ve been studying your ancient Earth history, you may recognize some of the names of the tribes that contributed to her genetic makeup. Most of her genes are from the humans who survived in the North Pole area. These include the peoples who were known as Irish, Chinese, German, and a few others I am not able to identify. Thanks to the genetic variance and improvement program we’ve provided humans, her DNA also includes some of the ancient tribes from south of Earth’s equator.

“Obviously, that material was contributed from the gene labs of Earth’s South Pole government. It’s a very strong mix that will be a nice addition to the DNA of your own future offspring.

“If you’ll just sign this release form giving me legal permission, I’ll extract the standard genetic material for storage including one thousand of her eggs, which she won’t miss. This will provide you all the future DNA you could possibly need plus extra amounts you may choose to contribute to the Verdante planet-wide genetic supplies for the benefit of our race.

“I’ll also collect genetic material from the cat, which is rare and hard to obtain away from Earth. They don’t live long, and many of our human pets become distraught at their loss. Providing them a new copy is often just the thing to cheer them up again.

“Of course, I don’t need to remind you that we strongly advise against the same practice when it comes to replacing Earth humans. I understand that human pets have a much shorter lifespan compared to ours, and their owners often become extremely attached to them. But even a young child knows that a clone is not the same person. To recreate a new life as a twin of a preexisting life goes against our knowledge that evolution depends on achieving ever-greater genetic diversity. Don’t you agree?”

M. Hoyvil had waited politely during the doctor’s long speech. The oldest of the Verdante adults were the longest talkers, he had found, but they were also due the most respect. M. Hoyvil spoke in what he hoped was a polite manner.

“Actually, I’ve been thinking about this, and it seems strange to call Antaska a ‘pet’ when she’s really a person. I think I’d rather call her my companion instead. After all, she is a sentient humanoid, not a mere animal.”

Potat turned toward him and let out a small hiss, and he paused in surprise.

“My apologies,” he addressed the words telepathically to Potat and then turned back to speak silently to the doctor. The revelation of Potat’s telepathic abilities had given birth to a new and even more disturbing concern.

“Her cat is telepathic. What if Antaska becomes telepathic too and finds out that we Verdantes take humans as pets—we don’t hire them as they’re told? I’m sure she’d be offended. And anyway, I don’t think it’s ethical to take her genetic material and use it without her permission—or her pet’s DNA,” he added.

“I don’t mind calling Antaska something else besides ‘pet’ since someone else has claimed prior ownership,” said the big doctor.

He glanced at Potat with amused, upward-titled eyes.

“But I can assure you it’s very unlikely that one individual will suddenly become telepathic. It just doesn’t happen that way. You should know from your anthropology classes that a species as a whole becomes telepathic gradually over what could be millions of years.

“However, I would argue that our taking her DNA is not unethical since it’s no different than the current practices of her home planet. As you know, the North and South Pole Earth governments have complete control over human reproduction. All new humans are created in the birth labs from government-approved genetic mixes. In addition to sterilizing Earth humans at birth, their scientists collect much more material than what we take from our human passengers.

“We understand that this practice is just one of many population-control measures the Earth humans put into place after the near loss of all life on the planet. They control their populations to avoid the possibility of another apocalypse and the return of their civilization to a stone age, or worse. So they developed rather extreme controlling governments in both poles.

“Even though she is now legally your pet, she actually has much more freedom while living among us. On Earth, she would never be allowed to reproduce her own children if she wanted them. But we allow the humans who travel with us to make that choice. Our collecting her DNA now will allow her to have children if she ever decides she wants them. The veterinarian on the next part of your voyage will only be an apprentice and won’t have the capability to extract her DNA. And if you wait till she returns from the hundred-year trip, her eggs may no longer be usable.

“Also, you should really think about your own future children. As you know, the Verdante gene pool is limited. We need to add material from Earth humans to ensure the continued viability of our own race.”

M. Hoyvil was not really thinking much about his future children at this point in his life. That wouldn’t happen till at least 300 years from now. It seemed like an impossibly long time to a Verdante of his age. But he wanted to give Antaska the choice of having her own children in the future. He also wanted to give her the choice of cloning Potat, even though he found cloning somewhat distasteful in general.

“Very well, you’ve convinced me. I’ll sign the release form for both of them,” he said with a telepathic sigh of resignation.

“Finally,” continued the doctor, “they’re both malnourished due to that ghastly excuse for food they eat on Earth. The humans living on Earth continue to resist our attempts to improve their diets by insisting on eating harmful garbage,” he fumed.

“There will be no more of that now that they’re in my care,” said M. Hoyvil with an air of responsibility. “I can already see an improvement from just the few healthy meals they’ve had so far on the space ship. They seem perkier and more alert.”

“That’s wonderful,” answered the doctor. “I’ll keep them here overnight, and you can get them in the morning. Since you’ll be traveling through deep space, I’ll put locator chips in their ears in case they get lost or stolen.”

Antaska was relieved when the two aliens finally stopped staring at each other, and M. Hoyvil turned and spoke out loud to her.

“Dr. Daji wants you both to stay here overnight for treatment. He needs to do some minor cellular repairs. It will be painless, and you’ll sleep right through it. Will that be OK?” he asked her.

Antaska agreed somewhat nervously. The large alien doctor pressed another button on the exam table, and Antaska and Potat were surrounded by soft orange light.

In what seemed like the next moment, Antaska opened her eyes to find herself lying on a round bed with white bed covers in a small, round white room. Potat was curled up asleep by her side. A chime sound came from the door to the room, and it opened.

“May I come in?” asked Dr. Daji.

He peeked his enormous green head around the edge of the door.

“Yes,” Antaska answered.

The noise had woke Potat, and she looked up groggily.

“M. Hoyvil is here to take you back to your quarters now,” said the doctor. “Your treatment is complete, and you are both in good health for the voyage. Are you ready to go?”

“Yes, we’re ready,” Antaska answered for both of them.

She got up and found the cat carrier on a nearby table. M. Hoyvil entered the room and looked at Potat, and Antaska heard some more whispering sounds.

“I think she wants to walk,” said M. Hoyvil.

“We can try that,” Antaska answered doubtfully.

“Meroww, mrow, mroww!” said Potat.

Then Antaska heard that small voice in her head again.

“Don’t put me in that cage like a prisoner! I want to walk! And stop pretending like you don’t hear me because I know you do.”

The medical treatment has left my head fuzzy and groggy. It’s making me imagine stuff again, Antaska told herself.

M. Hoyvil placed Potat on the floor. Much to Antaska’s surprise, the little cat followed them down the hallways of the space ship all they way back to their quarters. And she didn’t run off or stop to sniff and scratch at anything.

Antaska considered the possibility that Potat could be more intelligent that she had given her credit for. She knew that cats in these modern times were more evolved and lived much longer than the house pets they had been in Earth’s ancient days. History books said that before the great apocalypse over one million years ago, unlike the ancient dogs, cats couldn’t be trained to perform tasks helpful to humans. In the case of Potat, Antaska didn’t think she was showing that she could be trained, rather that she preferred to walk.

As they traveled through the hallways, they passed Verdantes of various sizes, some accompanied by Earth humans. Antaska heard faint whispering whenever they drew near. The humans stared with interest, some with big smiles, at little Potat rushing along beside them with quick movements of her short legs. The tall Verdantes waved their fingers and stared silently at M. Hoyvil but didn’t seem to notice the small cat.

Back in their quarters, M. Hoyvil noticed that Potat was tired out from the long walk. She headed straight to Antaska’s bed for a nap. M. Hoyvil felt recovered from his last big vocal conversation with Antaska. So he decided to work on some more bonding with her as Master Meeepp had recommended.

“Would you like me to tell you some details about our voyage?” he asked her.

“Yes, please,” she answered.

“Our first stop will be the Verdante home planet, located in the KOI-351 star system. On our way there, we’ve already passed some of the solar systems closest to Earth: Proxima Centauri, Rigil Kentaurus, Barnard’s Star, Wolf 359, etcetera. It’ll take about a month to complete the trip to the home planet, and we’ll stay there for about a week. When we land, some people will leave the ship and some will board, and we’ll load up with supplies for our hundred-year journey.”

M. Hoyvil’s vocal chords felt a little strained, but he looked down at Antaska and saw her staring up at him with interest, so he continued.

“Then, before heading out on our exploratory mission, we’ll make one more stop in known space at the Tri-Galaxies Space Station. It’s about three months’ ship travel time from my home planet. We’ll spend about a week at the space station, uploading the latest information on new solar systems that have been discovered. The ship’s crew will plot and register our course with the intergalactic space travel authorities.”

M. Hoyvil paused to grab a drink tube from one of the panel openings in the wall. Antaska walked over and climbed up to sit on the room’s big couch. He took a long sip and then walked over to stand next to the couch. Then he continued.

“At the space station, we’ll get off the ship and stay in special accommodations for Verdantes and Earth humans. The time will go fast with exploring tourist attractions and socializing. Then we’ll take off for deep space—on our way to increase our knowledge of the Milky Way galaxy and discover new sentient beings. That’s the basic overview of our trip,” he concluded. “Do you have any questions?”

The description of the trip was all that Antaska had dreamed of. All her life, she had longed for the coveted assignment of traveling to deep space working for the Verdantes. Forgetting about the tall Earth man who had been so much in her thoughts for the last two days, Antaska was filled with a new energy and enthusiasm. She wanted to get started with her new work right away.

“Can you tell me what my job responsibilities will be as your assistant on the trip?” she asked M. Hoyvil.

“Sure,” he answered. “Today is your first day as my assistant, and you’ll experience the regular routine of a workday. After breakfast, we’ll start every day with strenuous exercise in the gym. You’ll be in a class with other Earth humans. I know you exercised every day when you were in space school on Earth. But this will be much more intense.”

“Why’s that?” Antaska asked.

M. Hoyvil explained. “It’s because the life-extending diet supplements you’re getting in your food only work when combined with exercise. As you probably know, exercise lengthens your telomeres—the DNA molecules that affect aging. Cells die when your telomeres get too short to be able to divide, and then you get old and die. Exercise alone will only extend your life about ten to twenty years, but the supplements enhance and increase the effect.

“We give a weaker formula of these supplements to the Earth governments to add to their populations’ food, and we encourage Earth humans to exercise regularly. This has allowed your species to approximately double its life expectancy. But we can’t give humans on Earth the complete formula because some of the ingredients are dangerous if taken without enough exercise. And we can’t monitor the exercise habits of everyone on the planet.

“Now that you’re living with us, we monitor your health and fitness level every day. This lets you take the strongest-possible formula in each meal because we measure your body composition right before you eat. So now you can expect to live at least one hundred years longer than you had planned, or even more if you exercise strenuously.”

Antaska’s eyes widened.

“Don’t worry. We won’t force you to exercise if you don’t want to. It’s up to you,” M. Hoyvil said.

He waved his large green hands in a calming motion.

Antaska giggled. He must think I’m really lazy, she thought.

“I’m not worried. I’m just surprised,” said Antaska. “I’d like to live longer, and I’ll try to exercise hard if that’s what it takes.”

“That’s great,” said M. Hoyvil. “Anyway, after the gym, I have meetings before and after lunch. These might be boring for you, and you won’t have to go to the meetings if you don’t want to. I’ll take you today, and you can decide. In the late afternoon, I do work on my computer in our quarters. We have two days of rest after every five days of work.

“Of course, our most important work won’t begin until we discover new planets with humanoid species on them. At that point, you might be asked to act as our point of contact. How does that sound?” he asked.

“It sounds fine, but is there other work I can do until then? It could be many years before I’m needed for that.” Antaska asked.

She didn’t want to seem pushy, but she didn’t want to feel useless for most of the journey.

M. Hoyvil looked down at Antaska. He thought for a moment about how to answer her question. He eased his parched throat with another sip from his beverage tube, then spoke.

“Yes, there is something else you’ll do to help me on this trip,” M. Hoyvil began.

He knew that Master Meeepp would disapprove of what he was about to tell her.

“Most of the time, your role will be something like a travel companion. I’ll explain to you why this is so important. You know that the Verdantes are telepathic, but you probably don’t know the problems this ability creates for us.”

“Problems?” Antaska asked.

“Yes,” said M. Hoyvil. “On the plus side, it makes communication faster and clearer. Sometimes words can have more than one meaning, and it can be difficult to express an exact meaning within the limitations of a spoken language. But there are very few misunderstandings when someone is able to read your exact thoughts.

“On the minus side, being telepathic can be very disturbing. Other Verdantes can read my thoughts, and I can easily read theirs. But I don’t want them to know what I’m thinking all the time. And I definitely don’t want to know what they’re thinking. It’s worst when we’re physically near each other. That’s why we sit apart in the dining hall and usually stay at least five feet apart, except for the permanently mated adult couples.”

He saw Antaska’s eyes widen again. “So that’s why,” she said.

“That’s right,” said M. Hoyvil. “You probably saw the adult couples sitting on their side of the room. They don’t seem to have any problem with always knowing what the other one is thinking. It’s also not as much of a problem with family members we grow up with, and children don’t care who reads their thoughts. Unless they’re hiding something.”

He chuckled, remembering a certain time.

“But when we reach adolescence, it can be annoying. And when we leave home to go on a long space trip, it becomes a big problem,” M. Hoyvil finished.

His vocal cords and mouth muscles felt strained from the long explanation. He swapped his empty drink tube for a full one from the compartment in the wall and paused to gulp thirstily. He saw that Antaska was looking at him. She still seemed to be interested, so he continued.

“There’s a way to block others from reading our thoughts. We can hold a mental wall around our mind. But it’s tiring, and we can’t do it all the time. So we have to stay apart a lot of the time to be comfortable.

“Now because the galaxy is immense, and we can only travel so fast through it, our space exploration trips are at least a hundred years long. That means spending a lot of time either alone or with other Verdantes. Either way, most space explorers in the past ended up with severe mental problems after making these trips.”

Antaska’s wide eyes got even wider.

I hope I’m not shocking her too much, M. Hoyvil thought. But Master Meeepp said I should tell her about myself too, didn’t he?

M. Hoyvil knew that in reality, Master Meeepp would most likely not approve of sharing this information, but he continued anyway.

“Being alone was a problem because all humanoids have a natural need to be around others in order to be emotionally healthy. And I’ve already explained why being close to people who can read your thoughts is a problem.”

He looked at Antaska for confirmation that she understood, and she nodded.

“We kept sending volunteers into space anyway because our species has a strong drive to discover and understand new sentient species. But the explorers came back with emotional scars that couldn’t always be healed.

“All that changed about 10,000 years ago when we contacted Earth humans and offered them our assistance and protection. Of course, we knew you were there for a long time before that, but until then, we didn’t have legal approval to contact you. The galactic authorities gave us that approval when we proved we had a genetic link to your species.

“At first, we wouldn’t take humans into space because we thought it might be dangerous, and they might be harmed. But the Earth humans were mad to get into space, if you’ll excuse that term. Thousands of them practically begged us to take them and swore that any consequence, including death, was a small price to pay for the trip.

“Finally, we relented, and a complicated legal agreement was drawn up between us and both your North and South Pole governments.”

He didn’t tell Antaska the terms of the agreement. It stated that Earth humans who went with Verdantes would become legally owned by them, relieving the Earth governments of any legal liability. M. Hoyvil decided to not mention that yet.

“The first trip was amazingly successful,” M. Hoyvil continued. “None of the Verdantes who took Earth humans with them returned with any mental problems at all. They said that Earth humans were perfect travel companions. They were friendly and sociable. The Verdantes could be close to them without knowing what they were thinking and vice versa. And the rest is history.”

M. Hoyvil finished with a slump of his shoulders and an exhausted droop of his eyes. His powerful hearing detected a tiny sound, and he looked toward Antaska’s room. Little Potat stood in the doorway looking back at him. He lifted the corners of his enormous green eyes in a friendly smile.

From the doorway, Potat, still unnoticed by Antaska, stared at M. Hoyvil. What he just said interested the tiny cat.

I wonder what else he’s not telling us, she thought. I should read his mind to check, just in case there’s anything I need to know. After all, he’s my pet too now. But first, I should find out what Antaska thinks about all this.

Antaska was sitting quietly looking still looking at M. Hoyvil. As she had done countless times before, Potat easily focused on Antaska’s mind.

Wow! This weakness that M. Hoyvil just revealed is astonishing! Antaska was thinking. I’m so surprised to hear that these technologically superior, telepathic aliens are so dependent on Earth humans.

Potat detected the swell of Antaska’s ego. Then it returned to its normal level when Antaska thought, That’s true, but without the Verdantes, humans wouldn’t be able to travel in space at all. Our technology for space travel is still limited to Earth’s own solar system.

At least she’s not thinking about that big hulky guy for a change, Potat thought.

She wiped a paw across her head to straighten down a few hairs.

Antaska still hadn’t noticed Potat. She spoke to M. Hoyvil again.

“Thanks for explaining so much,” Antaska said to M. Hoyvil in her polite voice. “I’m ready to get started on my first day as your assistant.”

Potat switched over to reading M. Hoyvil’s mind.

I’m so relieved that Antaska didn’t seem to be at all bothered by what I just told her, Potat read. And I’m glad she’s so eager to get out and about the ship. So far, she’s met all my expectations for the ideal pet—I mean companion. One who would be active and go with me around the space ship and space station, not one who would spend most of her time resting in quarters.

Well, that’s kind of offensive! thought Potat. Doesn’t he know that cats need seventeen hours of sleep a day to be healthy? But I guess I can forgive him since he’s only thinking about Antaska this time.

Thinking about sleep made Potat tired. She turned and went back inside the room and then jumped up on the bed. Potat curled up fast asleep on the round pillow, working on achieving the total sleep hours that felines of all sizes needed each day.