FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Ease up on the controls, let the acceleration push your head back against the restraints. There's no force but what you create, and since it's yours, you can master it. Let the lights dim, let your shoulders and back go limp, but breathe deeply and focus, focus, and keep your eyes forward. You can withstand it, because it's yours.

The voice was calm and serene in Taj's head, while the empty null-space around him was filled with chaos. It was a familiar voice, friendly and comforting and intimate, a strong place in the warrior's mind in the midst of combat. It was Raptor, and he was reading the litany.

"Left two, three, five lost contact, presumed destroyed." That voice wasn't in his head, it was in his ear. His wingmates were dying. Regrettable, but they were expendable. They weren't flying Raptor.

Thumbs push forward against the pull of momentum, and the pull increases. The pain increases, until your muscles will scream at you to make it cease, make it end, but you will master them too, because they're yours. Breathe deep, force your lungs to pull in air through the respirator even though it feels like your ribcage is going to collapse. It won't, because you are strong.

"Up six, seven lost. Right one through eight lost." That was Rigger's squad. Taj snarled against the g-forces. Rigger was strong. He'd be missed, but he had done his job. The Fornan's fire had been drawn away, allowing Taj the time to get close.

If you pass out, you will die. If you let your muscles snap and bones break, you will die. Your enemy is smarter than you. They are faster than you. They are more accurate than you. If you do not fly with every inch of your being, they will catch you. If you hesitate you will die.

There was no sound in null space, so Taj had nothing but the visor readouts to alert him to the gunfire carving through null-space where he'd been just moments ago. The Fornan must have been five k out, and the spray of pellets were only a hundred meters off. Too close, he needed to maneuver faster. He pulled his hands to the sides, and vision darkened for a moment as the six gees right-angled. Pain sprouted in his chest as the accelleration compressed his ribs,, and he felt something crack. Immediately, a numb chill spread through him as his suit reacted to suppress and numb the injury. The pain of his fractured bone disappeared; it would be minutes before it regenerated properly, and he couldn't afford a distraction in combat.

Taj let his index finger slide into the pistol-trigger groove in his flight stick and his ship jumped to respond. Six gee shot to eight gee. Acceleration slammed his finger home hard enough to pull his knuckles from their socket. Carbine fire lit space ahead of him, ionized trails igniting then drifting into diffuse smoke behind uranium pellets accelerated to an eighth of the speed of light. Through the enhanced optics of his flight visor, he watched the pellets rip through the fuselage of the Fornan ship. The tactical display pinpointed the hits: five breeches in forward battery, one threatening coolant containment. Three hits on the engine capsule. Two hits on forward command. Any life not behind internal blast shields would be baked to a crisp by the high-energy rounds, not to mention the loss of atmosphere.

The Fornan guns went silent. Clouds of coolant leaked from the forward batteries, crystallizing as soon as it hit the void of null space. There was no light in null space to reflect off of the hull, so Taj relied on the heat, radar, and ladar imaging fed into his optics. The white-hot holes where his rounds had punctured slowly radiated their heat away, and the engine signatures slowly went silent. The Fornan was dead.

There is no victory until nothing remains of your enemy, even its memory. The fight continues, there is no such thing as a harmless corpse.

Taj smiled and whispered into his respirator. "I know, Raptor. I'm bringing us close to confirm, but carefully." There was nothing in null space for him to use as a point of reference as his ship twisted downwards and towards the Fornan ship. He was used to the blankness, the empty place between space, where he and his brothers fought the glorious war.

Then you are strong, Tagger. When we fly back to Home, the next generation of warriors will share your genetic code. It was your shot that brought down the Fornan.

"I hope, but don't distract me Raptor. Those thoughts don't belong in battle."

Your enemy is still strong, even when it's blind. You are tired, but you must still be in control. You will have to, or everything you've endured may go to waste.

The mantra continued, an endless litany of the great laws of combat. It was the philosophy that made him strong. He let the monologue guide him, relaxing his muscles to accept the harsh forces as he angled himself towards the wrecked Fornan ship. Like a cloud of bees surrounding the hive, the remaining fighters circled just outside range. His shots had disabled the Fornan, so it was his honor and responsibility to finish the kill.

As he approached, Raptor's electronic senses reached out to embrace the husk of his enemy. Taj focused on continuing evasive maneuvers in case the pinpoint accurate Fornan guns sprang back to life. Slow scans of the husk moved up through the electromagnetic spectrum, penetrating through different layers of the Fornan hull until a skeletal image spun in Taj's visor display. Vital systems were down in the enemy ship, and there was only power to a few of its many decks. Only a few Fornan-shaped heat signatures were still alive, and none of them were in combat quarters.

"Raptor, relay confirmed kill. Ready to sweep and salvage."

There was a pause for a moment, then a response. Tagger, something's not right in that ship. Reading gravimetric flares that won't appear in your display.

Taj considered for a moment. "Shoot, ignore, or flee?"

Raptor seemed to think for half a second more. It was disconcerting; the ship usually had a response within nanoseconds. Its computing power was far beyond anything that a warrior like Taj could comprehend. He'd come to rely on its instantaneous responses.

Tagger, I don't like this. An opinion, rather than pure fact? Taj breathed heavily into his respirator. Raptor's indecision scared him more than any combat could.

"Okay, taking us out of here before-"

Tagger! The ship's interruption overloaded the neural link, shooting pain into the base of Taj's spine. Null space collapsing! Critical malfunction of enemy's engines.

Taj's fingers were already on the controls. Acceleration built quickly. Four, six, then nine gee pushed him back into his flight chair, until he could no longer pull breath into his lungs. Without the light of stars to align himself, Taj could only rely on the display for direction and alignment. Away, the only direction that mattered was away. Within seconds of Raptor's panicked exclamation, the optics to his visor showed a spike of energy, capped on his register across the entire EM and magnetic spectrum. Half a second later, they shorted out, leaving Taj quite literally in the dark.

Then through the front view, a great rip opened in the blackness of null space. Through it, Taj could see stars. They twinkled and shone, bright as spotlights compared to the dark nothingness of null space. Heat and radiation shields raced sluggishly around his ship's hull, protecting the delicate insides from the sudden appearance of a universe full of matter as best they could.

The ship spun, any control he once had now gone. Through the forward view, a bright star appeared, close enough to shine like the terrestrial sun. A second later as the star spun out of view, the vast expanses of a planet twirled beneath him. Long stretches of green and blue chased each other across its surface in twists and peninsulas, interspersed with yellow and orange clouds. Then it too disappeared as the display spun.

Squeeze and twist, adjust to the roll and don't let it conquer me. Concentrate on one axis, then on the next, then the last. Fix first the roll, then the spin, then the pitch.

Since Raptor was silent, Taj instead spoke the litany to himself. He rolled his hands over the twitchy controls, and slowly, ever so slowly, thrust began to answer his demands. First he stopped the head-over heels roll, until he felt only the tug side-to-side. Next was the spin, thrusters firing to stop the twist that tugged at his stomach and set his inner-ear rocking. With that mastered, he finally focused on the twist around the center, using the distant horizon of the planet below him as reference. Second by second, he stabilized, until the world stopped dancing around him.

"Raptor, I need you." He whispered. Please, please, he begged silently. Be there for me, Raptor.

I am just a tool, Tagger, just a weapon. You are a warrior, you are more than the weapons you bear. The response was weak, so weak that Taj had trouble deciphering the words from the noise over the neural link.

"Maybe, but you're the tool I chose." Taj whispered, "You give me strength where I had none before."

The ship was silent as the tamed horizon slowly sank beneath him. Through the neural link, Taj could identify individual ship systems sluggishly creeping back online. The recovery was slow, and even once online, the systems were still reporting errors, those of them that were reporting anything at all.

You will need your strength, Tagger. I cannot be your weapon much longer.

Taj's mind blanked for a moment, then focused on the horizon in the view beneath him. The optical link on his visor was still out, but he could swear it was getting wider, larger. The crescent of it grew against the sides of the front view port until it was almost straight.

"Raptor, don't do this. We're too close to the planet. Bring us up." He spoke quietly, but panic was quickly rising.

I'm not designed for re-entry to real space, Tagger. We're inside a solar system, and the solar radiation is far above my tolerances. I've already lost access to my rear data cells.

"We can repair those. Just pull up, we'll launch a beacon, and a recovery will be with us in a week."

I can't take a week in real space, Tagger. I can't even take it for a day. You were designed for this. I'm not.

The horizon wasn't just the edge of the planet anymore. It was a skyline. "We're getting too close, Raptor."

I'm bringing us down, Tagger. You can set the beacon from the planet's surface, and you'll survive there until the recovery arrives.

"If you're not built for real space, you're definitely not built for gravity. Raptor, pull up. Now!" In direct defiance of his order, the ship dipped its nose, and flecks of heat bounced off of the forward view. Atmosphere started to flare around his ship. Taj heaved at the controls, but they were locked. Raptor had taken over.

Tagger, I've lost my front data cells now too.

"Stick with me, Raptor. We'll shut you off when we get to the surface, and we'll rebuild you when we get recovered."

I can't remember the litany anymore, Tagger.

The horizon wavered beneath him. The stars above were starting to fade into a red glow that surrounded the view. Acceleration was sluggish, nothing like the harsh tug of combat. In Taj's mind, it was almost peaceful.

"I'll speak it for you, Raptor." He centered himself, calm within the violence of orbital entry that painted his viewport yellow, then white. "Focus on the horizon. It is your only goal. Let the heat surround you, but never penetrate. It is only skin, it isn't flesh and bone. It is your skin, and it is strong enough. Steady and calm, fly straight until you reach the horizon. If you let the heat consume you, you will die. If you lose your calm, you will die. There is no enemy but gravity, and you are greater than gravity. You are its master." Taj whispered softly into the respirator. The cabin began to heat up and deceleration pushed his face and chest forward into his harness.

Tagger, I don't think that's part of the litany.

"I know, Raptor. I don't think there is a litany for orbital descent. I made it up." The flight was silent for moments as the white burned back to yellow, then back to red. They were slowing. The sky was turquoise, almost jade, and the clouds that scudded just below them were yellow.

It was good, Tagger. You should remember it for when you're recovered.

"When we're recovered, Raptor." The descent through the clouds happened in an instant. They were still traveling fast. Dangerously fast.

Tell your gene-kin of me, Tagger, when you teach them to be strong.

And then the ground reached up to claim them.

---

When he woke, it was to a tangle of metal and glass and rock. He twisted his controls, and nothing responded. There was nothing in his neural link. The heartbeat of the ship, a low hum of the engine as it spun, was just an unsteady beat as the turbine flopped every few seconds. The front view had shattered inwards, with a tangle of branches, ivy, and turf that had bounced off the inertial field inside the cockpit. It was built to withstand the harshness of null-space; resistance to branches and vines had never been considered in its design.

With the pod breached, the ship's inertial field had flickered out, and the cockpit had filled with all the rubble that the wild jungle could provide. Taj's immediate review of his situation wasn't good; the ship was a wreck. Anything still functioning wouldn't be functioning long.

For the first time in decades, since he'd been inserted into his Raptor at the conclusion of his warrior's training, he started to disconnect himself. He lifted his hands from the controls and started to lean forward. At each juncture where his hide met his ship, thin wires embedded in his pelt pulled at his skin greedily as they tugged free. In his shoulders were muscle stimulators that kept him fit for the rigors of high-gee acceleration. In his back were nerve controls that tensed and relaxed his limbs to best handle spin and yaw. At the base of his neck, the neural link fed into the base of his skull, linking him to his Raptor for the most base and instantaneous information the ship could provide him.

Pulled forward from the seat, he stood slowly. When his backside began to pull away, he felt the slither of tubes pull from his rump, where the very last portion of his digestion and waste had been handled by the ship's autonomous systems. Behind that, his tail slid from its compartment, long unused and stripped of fur to keep it clean and out of harm's way. It was thin and naked. The dark stripes that ran skin-deep made the appendage appear almost rat-like. Around front, he pulled the front of the solid flight harness away, and the last bit of the ship's design slid from his sheath, the last connecting tube pulling free of his body with a sharp twinge of pain.

Then he stood from the rubble. Air felt strange around him, slightly colder than he was used to, and moving rather than stationary in his pod. A slight breeze blew across the crash site, and Taj suppressed an unconscious shiver. His entire body was devoid of fur, an end result of his flight harness' body controls to adapt him to long years spent in the capsule. Shakily, he lifted his leg, stepping over the wreckage of metal and out onto flat ground. The nose had buried itself in the turf. The ground around the crash site had been baked to a crisp by the heat of the impact.

Sluggishly, as if afraid to make him aware of their presence, senses returned that had been suppressed for so many years. By the time he tried to stand outside of the pod, they were overpoweringly strong, replacing the clear and precise familiarity of the neural link with the nature's chaotic profusion of sensory input. He could hear the jungle, ears swiveling awkwardly towards every chirp and caw and rustle of the bushes. He could taste the air as his lungs dragged it over his tongue, wet and fetid with rotting leaves. Strongest, though, was the smell. A thousand animals and plants, none of which he could name, crowded into his sensitive nose. There were olfactory messages to be read here, the planet's local inhabitants declaring their presence in a language Taj was ill-equipped to understand.

When he stood, the world spun up to greet him as he staggered from the cockpit. He only caught himself with out-flung hands. Years spent in freefall had stolen his balance away from him. He couldn't stand--he could barely even crawl on his knees without the ground rushing up to meet him on either side. The ground near the crash was still hot, but he laid his palm on it anyway. Pain could be conquered. It was his pain, so he mastered it.

"Raptor, can you still hear me?" He whispered, but he no longer had a respirator to whisper to. The neural link lay back in the cockpit. Raptor couldn't speak the litany to him anymore. The engine gave a cough, its cylinder flopped twice more, then ceased. With its last artificial heartbeats, Taj's Raptor died.

He sat on his knees until they groaned in pain, letting the twisted corpse of his Raptor cool under his palm. It was only by stages that he began to be aware of his surroundings. The wind was cold, chilly against bare skin. Creatures buzzed around him on whisper-thin wings, long of body and slightly curved in a way that made them appear to be moving, even when they were standing still. One landed on his outstretched hand. Its wings stretched to the sides, and two of its many legs lifted up to clean bulbous eyes that were larger than its head. Around him, the wind sighed through trees, twisted and broken where his ship had crashed through, straight and tall everywhere else. There wasn't much ground cover; the tall trees caught so much of the sunlight that only slim fingers of it filtered down to the floor.

"Hngrp! Lirp!" The strange cry pulled Taj's head around. Something brown and angry was holding a stick towards him. It took him a few moments to focus, and what he saw almost made him laugh. In form it was similar to creatures on his home planet that gamboled in rivers and seas, playful predators that amused the planet-siders so thoroughly that many of them had tamed them as pets. Its body was long, and the tail that sprouted from its end was thick, enough so that it looked like a natural extension of the form rather than another limb. Arms and legs sprouted from its sides, but they were half the length that the body would suggest. Standing, it was only barely as tall as Taj was while kneeling. It was an otter, but unlike the animals he was familiar with, this one was bipedal, and if the spear it held was any clue, sapient.

"I'm not going to hurt you, little one. I'm no threat anymore, not without Raptor." He turned back to the husk of his ship. Some instinct told him he should be angry. Or sad, or despondent. Raptor was gone. A lesser pilot would cry, or scream, or roar their defiance to the world.. But he was a warrior, and warriors don't mourn. He was strong, the litany made him so. He would survive, he would be recovered, and the next generation of warriors would wear his name with pride just like he wore his progenitor's.

Behind him, the voice squabbled again, then another joined it, just slightly higher in pitch. Then a third, and a fourth. Couldn't they just leave him in peace to sort his mind out? With a sigh, Taj realized he couldn't ignore them anymore. They didn't seem to be leaving. Turning around, he realized five of the creatures had congregated behind him. They yammered to each other in chopped sentences, and held identical weapons in his direction.

"Go away." Taj shook a hand towards them. Without the hand holding him upright on his knees, he wavered a little. Balance swung around him as his inner ear tried and failed to adjust to constant gravity.

The five pointed sticks followed his hand, and in annoyance, he grabbed the closest one. The wood splintered easily under his grip, and the pointed tip tumbled to the ground. There was a shocked gasp from one of the creatures, then with a quick stab, one of the other spears stabbed into Taj's shoulder. He blinked as pain blossomed. It wasn't a deep cut, the corded muscles that covered his form were toned for high-gee acceleration. It did, however, start to sting. Then it went numb. The numbness started to spread in a cool wave from his shoulder. Poison! By the time he'd started to struggle to his feet, the numbness had reached his chest. While his feet pushed him upwards, one knee collapsed beneath him.

Then the cool wave reached his head, and the forest went dark again.

---

Through the darkness of induced sleep, he heard voices. They spoke in a language he couldn't understand. He was tired, much more tired than he should be. Why did his midsection hurt? Was he injured? Why couldn't he see? Then fingers touched his face. He tried to pull away, but his muscles didn't respond.

In the dark land he knew to be his own mind, a figure appeared. It was as if a dream had sprouted life, a life beyond his own imagination. Only Raptor had ever done that, and that had been through direct neural link. His subconscious screamed at him, warning him of the dangers. This figure should not be.

"What are you?" The figure was demanding and haughty. It was another of the creatures he'd seen at the crash site, long of body and short of limb. This one spoke his language, though.

"You understand me, then?" He asked warily. He suppressed the panic and alarm. They were just emotions, and emotions were under his control.

"I do. Answer me, what are you?"

Taj pulled himself to his full height. "I am Taj-Rol-Mani of the Hin generation." It had been a long time since he'd the chance to use his full name.

"That is who, but not what. What are you?"

"I am a warrior."

The figure flinched and pulled back. "Where do you come from? Are there more warriors like you? Will they come here too?"

The first words didn't quite hold meaning for him, so he shrugged them off and simply answered the latter. "Yes, there are more like me, too many to count, but no, they aren't likely to come here."

"Then you're not here as a warrior?"

"I am always a warrior." As he thought, patterns and logic began to emerge. He understood what answers she sought. "But I'm not here to declare war. Your people are safe from me and mine."

"So you are not one with the Rock tribe?"

This time, Taj drew a blank. He shook his head in confusion. "This might be simpler if you'd tell me what was going on so I could answer your questions properly."

"That's not a short story, and I don't have long. Just answer, are you with the Rock tribe?"

"If you're already in my mind, then can't you just send it?" He thought back to the lessons Raptor had taught him, electronics-to-mind, transferred in a second. Days and months of information squeezed into the blink of an eye. His brain was tailored to handle it. He reached towards the figure. This was his mind, and here he was the master. Even though the figure tried to back away, Taj caught it with ease. "It'd be simpler if you just-"

When his hand touched the figure, and a wall of images and ideas slammed into him. Scents and sounds and tastes crowded into his disused senses, vibrant with the colors of this alien planet. They were jumbled, disordered, nothing like the lessons Raptor had taught him. Most of them didn't make sense, tangled and incomplete as they were. Taj struggled to make sense of them, at least enough to give her a useful answer. Her? Yes, it was definitely a her, the images at least made that clear.

"How... What did you do?" The figure staggered back, holding her head.

Taj ignored her for a moment as he searched through the memories. Rock tribe, another local tribe of otter-creatures. Pitiful technology. Rivals for territory, it appeared, and violent. There'd been clashes, too. Recently.

"Ah, now I understand. No, I'm not with the Rock tribe, nor with any other tribe."

"You took something from my head!" The figure wailed.

Taj glared levelly at her. "You've invaded my head. I mean your tribe no harm, but if you insist on entering my mind, then here you follow my rules."

The figure glared back at him. Fire danced in her eyes, then she turned about and vanished.

---

Slowly Taj clawed his way back to wakefulness. The first thing he noticed was his nose. It itched. It was a strange sensation, since Raptor had suppressed any distractions while he was in harness. He lifted his hand to scratch it, but the command to his arm to rise was intercepted somewhere around his shoulder, and his arm only twitched.

"-say it's still too dangerous." The voice was high pitched and slightly squeaky. It was close, too, no more than a few long body lengths from where Taj lay. The words were strange, but they brought with them flashes of meaning, as if he were experiencing the language through a slide show.

"I won't say it's not dangerous, but it might also be useful." Another voice, more masculine, if he had to judge. It was tough to tell when every sentence was interrupted with stolen memories of what the words meant.

"Is it a god? It flew down from the sky, I saw it myself."

"Crashed, from what you found. I wouldn't call it a flight so much as a fall." That last voice was familiar. It was her, the one in his mind.

"That doesn't solve what we should do with him."

"He's not with the Rock Tribe. This much I know is true. If he's not with them, and we offer to bring him back to health, maybe he'll help us." She responded. Even though he couldn't see the conversation with his eyes, the way she spoke contained an edge of authority. There was no doubt who was in command.

"If he doesn't kill us all first."

"Quiet, all of you. It's awake."

Slowly, ever so slowly, feeling returned to his limbs, along with agonizing sensations of pins and needles that crawled across his hide in slow waves. The pain means you're still alive. It is yours, master it. The memory of the litany was so fresh in his mind that he could hear it being spoken, even though the neural link was gone. It was the absence of the voice speaking the litany that shocked him most; crawling across his consciousness like an emptiness where purpose had been before. With Raptor gone, who would show him the path?

Light flooded into his eyes as he dragged himself into an awkward sitting position. His balance was still off. He steadied his arms in a tripod to keep himself upright. The room erupted with silence, broken only by scampering as the creatures around him fled to a safe distance. Around him, three of the otters were arrayed inside what appeared to be a spacious tent. Light streamed in from behind them, where the tent opened out into a sunny campsite. Two of the creatures were pointing spears at him.

Eager not to tempt another encounter with their poison, Taj held one hand up, palm first. "Peace, I mean you no harm." Incomprehension wormed its way across his captor's faces.

"Can it even talk?" The one to the female's right asked.

"It did in its dream. It just doesn't speak our language." She replied.

Every word flitted by with a matching snapshot of meaning. They must have been from the memories he had taken from the female. The words made sense, even if the language was primitive. What was more, If he was going to get back to Raptor for the beacon, he'd need to communicate. There was no doubt he'd been taken from the crash site, and he had a whole planet to search if they wouldn't give him a guide.

Your mind is what makes you a warrior. Every other part of you can be recreated in metal to be stronger, faster, and more durable. Your thoughts are what give you worth. Know your mind; master your mind, for victory is then simply a mechanical afterthought.

Taj let the litany flow through his consciousness. Even though he didn't always understand what each passage meant, it was as comforting as it was useful. In this case, it was also right. He closed his eyes, and conjured the images that had flitted past his eyes as the creatures spoke. It took effort, concentration to hold their patterns in mind as he arranged them. Then he opened his mouth and let the alien words fall from his lips.

The creatures gasped, and the spears backed away momentarily. Taj felt the urge to smile, but the battle wasn't over. Warriors didn't smile until after victory.

He arranged the picture-ideas in his mind again and spoke. "Not dangerous. Bring me to ship?"

Silence stood for a moment more, then one of the spear-holders threw his weapon to the ground. As Taj backed up onto the makeshift pallet in concern, the creature prostrated itself.

"Oh star-god! Do not bring destruction down on our-"

The pleas were cut short as the female kicked him to the side. He rolled, holding his ribs, but stayed mercifully silent.

"Leaf, take him outside."

"And leave you in here with this... thing, without a hunter to guard you? Not on my-"

"Leaf!" At the female's bark, the second tribesman holding the spear shut his mouth. "This is already awkward enough." With a last mistrusting glance, the hunter grabbed his supine tribe mate and his discarded spear, dragging both outside.

Now that only two remained inside, Taj let down some of his tense defenses. The poisoned spears were gone, along with the immediate threat of repeat incapacitation.

"So you stole our language from my mind too." The female spoke.

Taj found it hard to suppress a growl. "I am no thief." Imagining the words before speaking still wasn't natural, but at least it was taking less effort now that he knew the technique. "You were in my mind."

"You shouldn't be able to do that." She puffed herself up. Standing tall, she could almost meet him eye-to-eye while he sat. "How did you take those from me?"

Taj tried to respond, but the thought was too complicated, and it simply didn't translate.

"How did you see my mind, when I was in yours? I do not understand!"

"I simply imagined what I needed and reached for it." Just as I did with Raptor. That last bit he didn't say aloud. "My mind is made strong. I am the master of my own mind." The litany didn't translate well either, but there were words for it at least.

She turned up her expressive snout and sniffed. "You didn't take anything... Personal... Did you?"

Taj winced for a moment. "I don't know. They were jumbled."

"Jumbled? That's not a nice thing to say about someone else's thoughts."

Unconcerned for her emotional state, Taj shrugged. When it was clear an apology wasn't forthcoming, she continued. "What are you?"

"Didn't you ask that in my mind?"

"Yes, but if I'm to decide if we should continue to care for you, I must know more."

"Care for me?" Taj straightened wobbly, and after a moment he had to put one hand back down to steady himself.

"Care for you, yes. Even once you can stand, I believe you wouldn't survive here."

Taj looked her squarely in the eyes. It was a challenge, and he was up to it.

So was she. She met his unblinking gaze and continued. "There are over four hundred different animals here in the forest, and almost two thirds of them are poisonous unless properly prepared. That's only assuming that you can eat what we eat, and I can't even be sure of that."

Victory has many different faces. While you still draw breath, you are undefeated. There is no shame in knowing when to listen, when to learn, when to retreat, and when to submit.

Taj met her gaze while the litany flowed through the well-oiled gears of his mind. With difficulty, he lowered his gaze momentarily. She smiled her own victory.

"Now that you understand, I repeat. What are you?"

Images flashed through his mind as he searched for a word, but nothing quite matched. In a moment of startling clarity, he realized that it's a question he'd never considered before. From the first moment he could remember, the litany had filled him, giving him purpose and identity within the philosophy of war. What use was a description in the face of such an iron willed image of self?

But when viewed from the outside, what was he? He lifted a hand, examining the creature that had emerged wobbly and naked from his Raptor's life-long womb. Thin fuzz had started to sprout from the smooth surface across his arm, orange and black in bands that matched the light and dark colorations of his skin. The stripes continued up to his shoulder, then disappeared around his back. Each band ended in sharp tapers that terminated on each side of his chest. The fur would grow in thick, he remembered his beautiful pelt before he'd been implanted in Raptor.

He scanned through all the images and ideas that matched to her words, and found one that was close. It didn't encompass all he was, not remotely, but it was a start.

"Tiger."

The shamaness regarded him coolly, then shrugged. "I guess it makes as much sense as anything, though I think I'd rather tussle with a tiger than you." She gave his body a frank analysis. He didn't bother to hide anything. All she needed to know about his capabilities were written in finely toned muscles that rippled beneath his pelt.

She continued, "You say you were a warrior."

"Am still."

After a moment of hesitation, she nodded. "I am Sky, and this is the tree tribe. We need a warrior."

Her blunt statement didn't surprise him. He'd seen her visions of the rock tribe. They were numerous and comparatively strong. Still using spears and hides and rocks, but her memories made them out to be ferociously skilled.

"Your enemy is wise and canny. They are strong where you think them weak." He quoted from the litany. "If you think every enemy is your superior, then you can only ever be surprised when you find out they are not."

Lady Sky continued to stare at him, nonplussed. "What?"

"It is the warrior's code, the philosophy of war. It is what makes us... Tigers... Strong." He tasted the label, rolling it around on his tongue before releasing it. It was an apt description. Tiger: a local creature, vicious and smart, a paragon predator of the tribe's jungle. It would do.

The shamaness stared at him, carefully considering her words. "So, will you be a warrior for us, in exchange for-"

"No, I will not." He cut her off, mid-offer. "I can't even stand, let alone walk, and you want me to fight? No, it will be some time before I am ready for the battlefield." Taj's eyes caught the shamaness'. "But I will teach you to be one."

She quailed. "I am a shaman, not a warrior."

"I have seen you in my mind, your will is capable enough."

"But my duties to the tribe-"

"Are less important than making sure you have a tribe to be dutiful to." Taj finished. He brought himself up to his knees, spreading his legs to keep his balance. "In exchange, you will bring me to my ship."

Sky wavered in thought, then turned to the tent flap and called out. "Bring him food. He will be our guest for now." She cast a glance back to Taj, a challenge in her gaze. "I don't know whether to trust you, tiger from the sky. Your mind is a maze like none I have ever wandered, but you will have your chance. Spirits protect our tribe if you fail, but you will have your chance. We will honor your deal when my tribe is safe, and not before." And without a hindward glance, she scampered from the tent.

---

"Clear your mind, it is cluttered."

She was in his mind again. He had slept again, letting his body metabolize that last of the poison, and she had appeared. He didn't dream on his own, not after so many years of Raptor's guidance and control. So if it wasn't his dream, then she must be real.

"Stop telling me that." She had a temper, and her temper could control her. That needed to be fixed.

"Anger. You are angry when I tell you that your mind is disorganized?"

"Yes, I'm angry." She fumed at him, but at least she was honest. "I have been a shamaness for years, it is my job to be the smart one when others in my tribe are stupid."

"Ah, pride is the source. You believe that years of thinking for others would make your will strong."

"It is!"

"Then move me with your mind. A contest of wills." He sat and waited for her, a passive expression on his face. "I am the stupid warrior, while you are the smart shamaness. You are so strong that you can invade my mind, so pick me up and move me."

She gazed at him, then her eyes screwed shut as she willed him to move. When that failed, she called on her spirits to aid her. When they failed to materialize, she put her hands under one of his thighs and lifted. Through it all, he sat motionless. In agitation, she swung her fist.

In the first motion since sitting, Taj caught her tiny hand in a palm large enough to cover her head.

"Enough."

Through the empty blackness of his subconscious, a smooth voice drifted. You need not try to move the immovable. All space is relative, so by moving yourself, so do you move the immovable. Instead of trying to move what cannot be moved to get where you need to be, instead simply change where you need to be.

Sky jerked, tugging her hand from his grip. She gazed around, looking for the source of the voice.

"What was that?"

"That is the litany. It is the philosophy of war. To be a true warrior, you must know it."

Sky hesitated, chewing her lip in indecision. "Is there much of it?"

Taj smiled a crooked grin, the first actual smile she'd seen cross his lips. "I studied it for years, and I barely knew the first few volumes. There was much more I never read."

"How can anyone know it all, then, and be a true warrior?"

Taj looked away, the smile fading from his muzzle. "Raptor knew it all."

Sky seemed to disregard the comment as she pondered for a moment. Then, with a clever smile of understanding, she stood up and walked off to the right ten paces.

"There, I moved you."

"But I haven't budged an inch."

"True, but to me you're in a different place. Therefor, you must have moved."

Taj's face pulled up in a brilliant grin. "Now, the teaching can begin."

---

For the third time that afternoon, Taj fell over. He caught himself with hands and knees, then pushed himself shakily back to his feet.

"Don't push yourself too hard, you don't want to hurt yourself."

"Pain is just a message from your body to your mind. It is yours-" He quoted.

And Sky finished the quote for him. "It is yours, you can master it." She held a hand up to him, steadying him as he began to take slow steps again. He took four unsteady steps, then leaned forward against the tree. He was sweating. Even in peak physical condition, he was exhausted. It felt like he was fighting against his own muscles to keep himself upright. Every adjustment, every little twitch of his tail, every minute movement was carefully controlled with taut muscles, working hard for every uncertain inch. He was sore, both from the falls and from the strain, but he ignored his body's calls for rest. Turning against the tree, he fixed the far end of his impromptu practice yard in his sights, and took another step forward.

"It's tough to see you like this. In your mind, you're so quick and acrobatic." Sky mused, watching to see where she could help. Not that she could catch him, really. She wouldn't provide much of an impediment if he fell, and she'd probably get hurt in the process. Still, she could push slightly when he looked off-balance, making small adjustments where she could.

Taj grunted with exertion, steeling himself for another step. His tail twitched right, and his body pulled left to match. He teetered, shoving his arms left and right to find his balance, until he was moderately steady again. Then he took another step. "That's how I was, before I became a pilot."

"I still don't understand. How could you get like this, when you used to be like that?"

"Null space does that to you." Sky gave him a blank look, so he pointed up. "Up there, way up there, there's no planet to pull you downwards. There is no up and down, it's all freefall."

"But there's always an up."

He considered for a moment. "You know the feeling you get when you jump from somewhere very high? The sensation of falling, tumbling?"

"Of course."

"Think of that, but so far in the sky that there's no ground to catch you when you land."

Sky considered, then shook her head. "I don't think I like the idea of that."

"It's not so bad when you're there. Falling isn't very scary when you can't see the ground coming up to meet you."

"I guess. So you spent-Whoah!"

Sky dodged to the side as Taj came crashing down. He lay panting for a moment, then slowly levered himself up with trembling arms.

"Talking about the ground coming up to meet you."

"Hruf." Taj grunted in exertion as he pushed himself back to his feet.

"No, no no no. I'm done being the student for the day. Now I'm the tribe shamaness, and I'm ordering you to rest before you seriously hurt yourself."

Sky glared up at him, a rock-hard look of defiance on her face. She was not going to be denied. Taj couldn't help but smile at her. She was half his height, but didn't flinch at staring him down. He'd made the right choice in a protégé.

"I will obey." She handed him the strong branch he'd been using as a walking stick, and he leaned on it heavily. It bent slightly under his weight.

"Come. It's been a long afternoon, and your muscles will seize up tomorrow if you don't treat them well tonight." Sky led the way back to the tribe camp and held the flap aside for him to the large tent they'd given him, then followed him inside.

Without hesitation, Taj pulled the scant loincloth they'd given him to wear from around his waist and threw himself down onto the pallet.Rest is rejuvenation. You must relax as thoroughly as you fight, or when you fight again, you will not be rested. Many a battle has been won by the better night of sleep beforehand. Taj ran the mantra of the litany over and over through his head, and within moments of his front touching the slightly springy matt, he was already beginning to snooze.

Before he could sleep, though, a touch to his leg woke him. He sprang from his pallet, acrobatically twisting to meet the unknown foe. The reaction was old, older than his days as a pilot, from before he'd been implanted in Raptor. It was ingrained in his muscles, a taught action-response that needed no conscious thought.

It did, however, need balance--carefully honed balance that would be fine enough to stand without wavering on a thin wire. As it was, not only could Taj not balance on a thin wire, but he couldn't balance even without a wire. Resultantly, he cartwheeled through the air, and though his feet touched the ground first, they were quickly followed by his rump, shoulder, then head. Stunned, he lolled his head up to at least see his enemy.

Sky stood next to his pallet, just where she'd stood when she reached out and touched his leg. On her face was daft incomprehension, a slack-jawed mix of wonder and terror.

"Taj? Are you okay?"

The response was a hacking snarl. She flinched back, then watched as the iron-willed philosopher-warrior descended into a giggling chortles. As the shock from his twirling pirouette faded, she started to chuckle, then finally joined him in uncontrollable laughter.

After minutes, Sky recovered enough to wheeze, "They must think we're insane in here."

"We..." Taj paused to pull a deep breath around his aching diaphragm. "We are a bit, though, aren't we?"

"Maybe just a little."

Slowly, ever so slowly, Taj lifted himself to a careful kneeling position. "So, what possessed you to touch me while I slept?"

"I meant to..." She drew in a deep breath, finally getting control over herself. "I didn't mean for you to fall asleep so quickly at all. Your muscles are all overworked. You're going to need them rolled out, or you're going to be nothing but cramps tomorrow."

"Rolled out?"

Sky lifted a pouch next to the pallet. "I'm a shamaness. A medicine-woman. This is what I do. Trust me."

Taj hesitated, then slowly hobbled back over to his recently vacated bed. "In the culture of warriors, you and your opponents only ever meet for battle."

Brief confusion flitted across the shamaness' features. "You mean touching? You only ever touch each other while fighting?"

"Warriors, yes." Taj laid himself flat on the pallet again. "There are other castes with their own rules. I am aware of them, but I have never been one. For me, there was only ever the warrior's way."

"That seems impractical. Who tended your wounds when you were injured? Who showed you compassion when you were beaten? Who tended to your needs when you came of age?"

Taj gazed up at Sky lopsidedly. Without hesitation, she dropped to her knees next to him. Her agile fingers grabbed one of his thighs, and her palms pushed into his corded muscle. He resisted the unconscious instincts that told him to pull away, to fight, to defend himself. Instead, he answered. "It is difficult to explain. You have no words for the things we do." He considered while the fingers pulled at his leg muscles, kneading deep into the tissue. It hurt, but he mastered the pain. There was something cool that the hands left behind, something that smelled strongly of herbs, and felt cold against his skin. Where her hands kneaded, his muscles relaxed and aching faded. "How could I describe the tools we create that practice medicine more precisely than any living thing could?"

Sky gave an involuntary shiver. "A tool? I wouldn't want my muscles rolled by an axe."

"That is a very primitive tool." He gave a grunt as the fingers grabbed his right calf and squeezed. Sky was surprisingly strong for her small stature. "That's not meant to be an insult. Imagine the things we could build, we who know how to make a machine that can fly, not just into the vastness of space, but into the between places where there isn't even any space anymore. It's a whole world of wondrous things you can't even see in your mind's eye between the rocks and sticks and herbs you use and the things my kind have created."

Her hands moved to his other leg. As long as he ignored the pain of what her hands were doing, she left behind relaxation. That alone was worth every second of tolerance. "I have seen your mind, I guess I can accept that." He could feel her move above him, and then her weight descended on his back. She leaned in and pushed, pressing down with all her weight to knead muscles too thick for her hands alone. "But there are some things no tool could ever provide. What brings you companionship?"

The tiger beneath her was silent for long moments, and she gave him time to think as she kneaded his back muscles, moving towards his shoulder. By the time she reached his shoulders, he rumbled a soft answer. "You're wrong. Tools can, if they're good enough tools. Raptor did."

"Who was Raptor."

"'What' is a better question. Raptor was my ship." The body beneath her rose, then exhaled. "It's laying in a crater out in the jungle. Raptor was the only thing in my world for the last ten years. Twenty. I don't remember how long, long enough that I was implanted in him when I came of age, and I only just crawled from it when I crashed here."

Sky stopped her massage. "But surely you needed to leave to-"

"No, I didn't. Raptor handled everything. All the nutrients I needed were fed directly into my bloodstream. My muscles were stimulated while I slept to keep tone, and mental conditioning through correct sleep cycles kept me alert and content to spend years in a pod no larger than this bed."

"But your comrades?"

"Were on comms any time I spoke."

"That's not companionship, Taj." The paws continued across his back, digging under his shoulderblades. "Who brought you happiness? Fulfillment? Who showed you love?"

"Is all that important to your tribe?"

The question stunned Sky. She couldn't imagine life without them. "What? How could they not be? Aren't they important to yours?"

The tiger fell silent again, and she took the opportunity to search for knots across his broad back. His pelt was growing in evenly. It felt like a plush carpet beneath her feet. When she was sure his back was fully relaxed, she moved up to his neck.

"Raptor read the litany to me when I needed guidance. Raptor was the measure of my worth, and that was important."

Sky had finished on his back. He'd still be sore in the morning, but he would at least be able to move. She considered asking him to flip onto his front, but his answers troubled her. Something told her that Taj wouldn't be familiar with her tribe's customs. She considered her next words carefully.

"But now it's just you, isn't it? That means you're going to have a lot of needs that Raptor won't be handling for you anymore."

Taj shot her a strange glance over his shoulder. "True, but I think I can manage my own bodily functions for now."

"And the other needs?"

He smiled a sad little smile and turned his head back down into the pallet. "I've spent so long in my own company, I think I can do without. I won't be a burden."

"Even if someone is offering to handle those needs for you?"

"I am self-sufficient. It is part of our way."

Sky was sure he didn't quite understand. Maybe another night, when things were clearer.

So she stood and gathered her herbs. By the time she'd packed them back into their respective pouches, Taj was already snoring. She left his tent quietly, unfulfilled.

---

When Sky appeared in his mind, he immediately noticed an edge to her expression that he couldn't identify. She was frowning. Taj had seen her smile, he'd seen her think, he'd seen her become frustrated and angry, but the frown was something else. He had no measure of time between when he'd fallen asleep and the moment she joined him, but intuition told him that at least some of the night had passed, if not most. Something had happened.

"I am ready for training, Taj." She said immediately as she approached.

Taj waited. There would be no training in her current mood. He could see an intensity to her gaze, something was more important than the training. If it was more important than the training, then it was important that he know. Instead of continuing where they'd ended last night, he simply waited. His dream form sat, impassive and patient, waiting for her to tell him what was so important.

"Why aren't you saying anything? I said I needed to be trained. I need it now, Taj."

Now? Now, as opposed to tomorrow, or as opposed to yesterday? There was definitely something wrong. She had always shown him patience, even when she was angry. What was different now?

"Taj, this is no time to go silent on me. I need to be ready!"

"Then tell me what's happened."

She jerked as if struck. "Are you in my head again? If you are-"

"I'm not." Taj uncurled from his patient waiting and stood. "I am simply making an educated guess, and from your response, I'd say the guess was right."

Sky chewed at her lip momentarily. "Rock tribe attacked one of our hunting parties." She was trying very hard to keep it factual. Taj appreciated the effort she spent clearing out the rubble and emotional baggage. "Four dead, four of our best. They left the youngest alive to bring us a message. They said anyone who wanted to live should come unarmed to the Rock tribe lands and submit to them." Slowly the granite face of her emotionless recitation crumbled. "They-" She paused for a moment, steeling herself. "Leaf was one of the hunters. He's dead." A very slight quiver passed through her jaw, but she caught it in time before it became a sob. It was time to be strong.

Taj let the momentary lapse pass unmentioned. It was obviously not easy for her, but duty first, and mourning later. She was taking his lessons to heart. "So what will you do now?" He asked. The question was a simple one, but he knew the answer wouldn't be.

"We fight, of course! Teach me, and tomorrow we will bring this to their camp. I would leave not a single one of those murderers standing." Fire burned in her eyes. Anger again. Anger had its uses, but not now. Now it would make for poor decisions.

"You will not be ready tomorrow."

"Or the day after that? Or after that? When are you going to show me what I need to know, space-tiger? I've come to you night after night, and all I've had are words!" Her voice was loud, and cracks formed in the blackness as the dream-scape responded her anger.

"Win the battle of the mind, and you will win the battle of the body. Know what leads you to victory and what dooms you to failure, and know-"

"Stop it!" Her cry broke through his recital. "Stop the litany! Teach me to fight, teach me to raise my spear and bring it down so the Rock tribe will fall before me. You promised to make me a warrior!" The last was a shout, and Taj felt a coming headache from the alien emotions that coursed from her into the landscape of his mind.

"You think knowing how to swing a spear will win this for you? How many of them are there? Two to your every one? Three? Five? I can make you a warrior, but I cannot make you immortal."

"But teaching me nothing but words won't win either! We need to beat them now. Tomorrow. While we still can." The tremor that threatened her jaw earlier returned, coloring her voice with angry regret. "While there are still some of us left to beat them."

Taj had never worried about the emotional state of his peers. They'd all been warriors, guided by the litany just as he was. They didn't break, they didn't cry or whine. They fought on when allies fell.

So it must have been some instinct buried deep beneath the layers of the litany that led Taj forward to grasp Sky to his chest when her fierce warrior facade broke. Her arms clutched around his neck, fingers barely meeting around its girth, and a sob tore from her throat.

"He was my brother, Taj." Her voice was husky, muffled by his chest. Even now, she struggled to stem the tide of tears. "He took care of me when mother died. He's all I had, and now he's-"

"Shhh..." Taj whispered softly into her ears. He had knelt to reach down to her, and she slowly relaxed in his embrace. "He was strong, and he will be missed. We may have lost a warrior today, but what he left us is the memory of how he fought. We will learn from his loss, we will be stronger for his presence, and through his sacrifice we will win."

The sobs slowly lessened against his chest. "Is that from the litany?" Her voice was weak, the husky emotion gone and leaving behind just a whisper.

"It is." Taj answered levelly. "We speak it for all of our dead. And we remember."

Sky was silent for a few moments as she composed herself. When she pushed away from his striped pelt, Taj let his hands fall to the sides. In her eyes, the fire was still alight, but her expression was steady. "I think I understand."

"Then we will train. You are right, I have been focusing too heavily on theory, when practice is just as important. We will study tonight, then tomorrow, I will show you how to swing your spear."

Sky nodded at that, but before Taj could summon what he remembered of the warrior's code, her soft voice interrupted him again. "Taj?"

"Yes, Sky?"

"How many friends have you... spoken the litany for?" She stumbled a little, but didn't falter.

Taj's reply was equally soft. "Many. Our war doesn't take prisoners." His sigh was a rare glimpse of emotion. "For every one of our warriors that goes home in glory to pass on his genes, ten are spoken into the litany and remembered for their sacrifice."

Sky averted her gaze. "I'm sorry."

It took Taj long moments to respond. He'd never stopped to consider the comrades he'd left behind. He remembered them, yes, but no more. They were warriors, it was simply the most likely outcome of the life they were bred for. Sky's concern seemed superfluous, unnecessary, but somehow, it warmed him when she spoke. "Thank you." He paused, and memories of the past faded as he called into mind the words. "Now attend; the battle you will fight is one of knowledge. To know your enemy is to know how to fight him, and by knowing how to fight him, you will know how to win..."

---

"Tomorrow. This time, it must be tomorrow."

It was the first thing Sky said when she entered Taj's tent early in the morning. It had been weeks since Leaf had died, and there had been two more encounters. None of them ended as badly for the Tree tribe as the first, but there had been losses nonetheless.

"Our hunters say they're getting close." She continued. "Close enough that they're likely to attack the camp at a moment's notice. If we don't choose the battlefield soon, they will choose it for us."

Taj nodded curtly. Sky had changed in the weeks they'd been training. She was lither now, slimmer. The little bit of fat that her prestigious position within the tribe had afforded her had been replaced with taut muscle. When she spoke now, it was with the aura of unwavering authority. She wasn't a warrior yet, not by Tiger standards, but she was better. She trained with Taj by morning, then taught the other hunters to the evening. Nights were spent in Taj's mind, learning the warrior's way, ending just in time for another grueling day.

"You are sure of this, then?"

Had it been before she'd started training, the answer would have been uncertain, unsure. Had it been when Leaf's death was fresh in her mind, the answer would have been brazen and bold. Now, her response was level, spoken with absolute confidence. "Yes. The right time to strike has come."

"Then you are ready." Taj nodded and stood. In the last week, he had forgone use of his walking stick completely. He could move unaided now, though anything faster than a trot made the world tilt under him. Decades spent in freefall didn't disappear quickly. The rest of his pod-borne existence had faded much more quickly, though. His pelt had grown in thick and lush as he'd remembered, the vibrant stripes shining in any light. He didn't look so different now than when he'd been implanted decades before. Life in Raptor had given him experience, but it didn't seem to have aged him even a day.

"I'm ready to train. Please, anything we have missed so I can be ready."

"There is nothing more. Today you rest."

Sky glanced at him in confusion. It was the last response she had expected.

"Fight with all you are, but do not forsake your body its needs between battles. Your mind is your most valuable tool, and it cannot be used without rest." Taj quoted.

Sky mulled that over in her mind. "Is that the warrior's way?"

"It is. Surprised?"

"A little." She shrugged, then a broad smile floated across her face. "But I can agree with it." Sky flashed him a quick smirk. "I was wondering if the space-tigers never rested."

"Maybe not like your tribe would." Taj admitted. "But I wouldn't presume that your tribe would find hours of meditation restful. I'll leave the decision of what to do to you, shamaness."

Sky paused for a moment. "It's been a week since I felt like more like a shaman than a warrior."

"You've been what the tribe needs."

"Maybe." She shook with a squirm that included her entire body, then pranced towards his tent exit with a happy bounce. "Fine, a day to relax it is. One condition, oh teacher-of-the-warrior's-way."

Taj smiled tolerantly. "And that is?"

"Join our relaxation. I want the tribe to see you."

"I can still barely walk."

"You can sit, and for our celebration, that's enough. Just..." She gave Taj a frank glance. "Can I ask that you try to relax and enjoy yourself too? I know it's not meditation of the litany, but..."

"I will try, Sky." Taj smiled tolerantly. "I don't think I've ever been to anything I'd call a celebration. It will be new to me."

"I think," Sky gave him a sly smirk, "that you will never have seen anything quite like it."

The preparations for the celebration didn't take long, but then again, there wasn't much to prepare from what Taj could tell. There was an air of urgency and anticipation that was almost palpable amongst the tribe. Maybe it was something about their primitive traditions that spoke to the long suppressed primitive warrior in himself, but Taj quickly found himself being drawn into their giddy anticipation. He hid it behind his placid warrior's expression, but his curiosity began eating away at that stony exterior until Sky came to fetch him.

He was led into the center of the tribe camp, where wood was being stacked for a bonfire. At one end, a heavy stone had been levered into position for Taj, large and sturdy enough to serve as the back of a chair for him to sit against. It was obviously a place of honor, the head of the impromptu (and mostly imaginary) table. He sat when instructed while the flurry of activity swarmed around him.

One by one, the tribe appeared. The children and their carers first, the ones who spent their lives close to the camp. Then came the foragers, carrying gourds full of fresh water, tangy herbs and roots to roast over the fire, and berries to add flavor and spice. Then lastly came the hunters, just after the sun had passed its apex, carrying trapped animals. Taj was surprised at the Tribe's numbers. He'd only ever seen perhaps a tenth of the tribe's true strength at any one time, and now he sat surrounded by hundreds of the diminutive otter-like tribesmen. They all moved with the same slinky bounce and twist that Taj had come to associate with excited anticipation.

Some time after the hunters had arrived, when the sun was low on the horizon, the preparations somehow blossomed into a celebration. It was a gradual change, and it was only by small measures that Taj noticed the busy creatures finish their frenzy of work and descend into what could only be described as a frenzy of enjoyment. There was nothing particularly restful about the way the tribe cavorted and played, but they were definitely dragging every moment of pleasure out of it as they could.

"As hard as you fight, play. As hard as you play, fight." Sky sidled to his side, holding a gourd out to him. He accepted it and sipped; it was filled with a spicy tonic, fruit that burned slightly as it slid over his tongue and down his gullet.

He wiped his lips and looked askance at the shamaness. "I don't remember that in the litany."

"It isn't, I made it up." She smiled at him. She had the same bounce of the hips that the rest of the tribe had developed over the busy morning. It wasn't out of character, but he'd never seen her bounce so her hips jiggled at the apex of each step. It was as if there were some unheard beat, and her entire body were trying to involve itself with every footfall to the tempo of the revelry.. That said, it seemed natural for the lithe otter-things, their overlong bodies compressing and stretching adeptly with their flouncing gait.

"It is a worthy addition." Maybe not for tigers, but definitely for the tribe. If they only fought as hard as this...

Much to Taj's surprise, Sky leaned in, then sat across one of his knees. Her feet just barely reached the ground, but she balanced expertly with little twitches of her tail. "I want to thank you, Taj. My people, they aren't warriors, not like yours."

"I know, but you have done my teaching proud."

"It doesn't come naturally." She smiled openly. From the chaotic crowd that sat around the bonfire eating, drinking and moving, there was an impromptu patch of song. "But I'm serious. I want to thank you, not just for my people, but for me, personally."

Taj shifted uncertainly. He was unused to this kind of attention, and Sky was sitting far closer than she had at any time during the training.

A commotion off to one side of the fire caught his attention momentarily. There were four of the otters sitting on a dry log, remnants of their meal scattered about to the sides. If Taj had been less observant, he'd say they were wrestling. They twisted and writhed against each other, short limbs gripping like fighting opponents.

But every few seconds, he caught sight of colors of flesh and wet slurps that carried even across the loud celebration. There was no question in Taj's mind about the movement of hips and tails and undulating of bodies. It was mating, as done by animals and ancient tribes, long before the advent of cloning and gene-seeding. It made sense, any primitive culture would need to do it to procreate, but...

A few of the crowd had noticed, too. There were a few whooping calls, and a fifth joined the four on the log. The fifth one he recognized, a hunter acclaimed for his skill with snares and traps. The hunter's intent was clearly apparent, sticking out from his crotch like a spear of darkly mottled pink flesh. The four embraced him, pulling him into their amorous activities without hesitation.

Suddenly starting to catch the drift of the celebration, Taj glanced around sharply. There was another pair, out towards the edges leaning against a tree. He wouldn't have caught it unless he'd been looking for, but the way their hips moved against each other...

It wasn't everyone. It wasn't even most of anyone, not yet, but Taj began to understand the tense anticipation he'd seen this morning. It was more than just relaxation, preparation for the day to come, it was a celebration of the tribe's continuing vibrant life. The more he thought about it, the more sense it made, connecting some of the pieces of confusion about the tribe's behavior over the weeks he'd spent with them.

"Ah, so you see?" Sky turned to him fully, perched precariously on his knee.

Taj rumbled a little deep in his throat. "I understand. It is not how we create the next generation of warriors, but it is a genetic imperative that-"

"Shush." Sky put a finger to his lips, the webbing between forefinger, thumb, and middle finger stretching slightly. "Don't over-examine it, it ruins the celebration. As I said, I wanted to thank you."

Taj squinted for a moment as understanding dawned. "My kind doesn't require this kind of physical activity to pass genes to the next generation, Sky, and I'm sure I wouldn't be compatible with-"

"You're over-thinking it again, Taj." The otter shamaness swung one of her legs over, straddling his knees. "This isn't just to procreate. It's fun. It relieves stress. It gives us companionship and confidence." She paused for a moment, then reached down. With a quick flip, she pulled the loincloth from around her waist. "And most of all, it shows affection."

Taj looked around. The activity had spread somewhat, but was confined to small clusters of eagerly coupling tribesmen. The crowd ebbed and flowed around them, acknowledging and appreciating the activity as simply a part of the celebration. "Sky, I'm sure there are many of your tribe that you share affection with. I'm an outsider, and I'm not sure..." He stumbled off, unsure of how to proceed.

"But I'm sure, Taj." Sky's arms reached out, one hand on each of his shoulders. The gaze she leveled at him with was colored with intense hope. "It's not just play, now. Don't you see? I feel affection for you, Taj. You're smart, you're disciplined; you're everything that I find attractive in an otter."

"I'm not an otter, Sky."

"No, you're not." With painstaking care, she slowly slid up his thighs. A strange anticipation crawled along Taj's spine, one that'd been absent since he'd come of age and been implanted into Raptor. It was a vestigial emotion, unfit for the battlefield. However he denied it, though, it spoke to some deep part of his psyche. It filled his senses with a tingling spice that crawled into his nostrils and coated his tongue and stroked his whiskers. It left behind a low burn that left Taj lightheaded. "Maybe that's what I like most, Taj."

"Sky..." He whispered.

"No, don't talk, mighty warrior. This is my world--let me show it to you." She could see his hesitation, feel his embarrassment. She stroked over his chest, whispering things that brought images and feelings from his stolen memories, emotions without words.

Taj glanced out amongst the celebrating tribe, but the press of the crowd and the feeling of watching eyes faded, as if he'd retreated into the black stillness of his own mind. All that existed was Sky, and the fingers that traced through his fur, and the legs that spread around his thighs, and the tail that slipped between his legs and twitched left and right as she pulled herself flush to his front. She pushed and pulled and tugged, working her shamaness' magic on his willing form, wrapping him in her seductive spell. He almost didn't notice her hands as they tugged his borrowed loincloth from around his hips.

Then there was warmth and wetness. That grabbed his attention, dragging his eyes down as the world rushed back to him. Sky was gazing up at him, her over-large blue orbs smiling in glee as she hugged herself to his front. Slowly, she peeled herself backwards in a languorous wave, moving inch by inch to reveal the place where their bodies met. As her chocolate fur bent backwards, he felt the heat and wetness undulate against him, sliding slickly. Finally, the last bit of fur slid back from his own, Sky bent backwards across his lap with her head on his knees, and Taj's gaze was drawn down between her spread legs to the flesh that glimmered wetly in the light.

She was shameless in how she displayed their coupling to him. When his eyes first looked down to where her glistening slit slid across his eager length, she tilted her hips back. Slowly, achingly slowly, he watched as the tight entrance slipped over his tapered tip, then inched its way down. Each motion was accompanied by the most exquisite tightness, filling his mind with a soft buzz that he could only liken to the rush of heat at the height of the fiercest battle. He watched enraptured as the otter's short legs spread lewdly to the side, and she slipped the last few inches down until her wet entrance kissed his sheath.

Taj glanced up. Sky was watching him. She was gazing at his face, catching every one of his twitches and grimaces as pleasure crawled along every one of his limbs. She was living the sensations through him, watching every little reaction to the slick friction and tight grip and sensual gliding, and she was enjoying it. She sat in his lap , hands on his knees to steady herself as she moved. Her eyes reflected the sight of him, while she gulped down Taj's pleasure vicariously with the same eager abandon that he'd become so accustomed to.

Deep within the warrior psyche, a beast began to uncurl from its long-dormant rest. It was a fierce beast, dangerous and primal, born before the age of axe and iron and computer and space-ship. It prowled the gate of its cage, where generations of gene selection and mental conditioning and the Litany had locked it inside, unseen and unheard. And as pleasure built it reached through the bars.

Instinct wasn't a reaction that Taj was used to letting control him, but nothing in his training had prepared him for the rush of feral passion and joy that gripped him as the diminutive otter undulated against his crotch. Sky's thick tail curled up between his legs and cradled his sensitive anatomy as her hips wriggled. Taj reached down and grasped her. He marveled at how his hands could wrap around her, fingers meeting on either side. She squealed as he lifted her, then let out a chirp as he let gravity carry her hips back down to the nest of his crotch.

Around them, the celebration swayed and bounced in full swing. The tribesmen's sharp language bounced off of Taj's ear, laughing and sighing and chirping in swells. Some of them were watching, lust-drunk gazes of approval and arousal on their expressive muzzles. It was a tribal ceremony, wild and free, and Taj was sitting in the center of it, with the tribal leader riding his lap. He felt power, he felt fame, and the beast pawed at the door of its cage. He lifted Sky from his lap, holding her aloft for the view of the scattered audience. She bent backwards over his hands, crying out in glee as thin tendrils of sticky liquid drooped, keeping her connected to the tiger.

Taj pulled her back down, letting out a chuff as the squirming tightness closed over his shaft again. Giddy in the crowd and high on the unfamiliar lust, the chuff rose to a growl, then the growl rose to a roar. Stars flitted across his vision as the tense pressure peaked, crashing over into bliss.

Minutes later, when he could uncurl his hands from Sky, he huffed out a soft apology. "I... Eh, I'm sorry... I lost control, and..."

"Oh, it's fine. Everyone's quick the first time."

"Ehr, but I picked you up. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to use you like-"

Again, the otter's finger pushed to his lips and he fell silent. With a slurp that was audible even over the loud celebration, she pulled herself upwards. Liquid spattered across Taj's lap. "I wanted you to. Don't apologize."

He nodded. Deep within the beast circled and purred in satisfaction. Then something caught Taj's attention. "Wait, first time?"

"Of course!" Sky smiled and leaned back, baring her lewdly wet crotch as she rolled on her back. "The celebration will last all day and into the night. What, did you think that was it?" Her tail slid up from where it was trapped between his legs and caressed him, slick oily fur sliding up and around his wet organ as it slowly retreated back into his sheath. It gave a throb as he imagined an entire day of activity.

Taj sat in shock for a moment, then replied, "I don't know what to think."

"Then don't." Sky rolled forward and gentle fingers manipulated his sheath. "Turn off for a day, sky-warrior, and let us rock-and-spear primitives show you what life is like here on land."

Taj leaned back against his impromptu chair and let the atmosphere envelop him.

---

The morning dawned with forty fit and trained warriors well on their way to the Rock tribe camp. It was in a small valley, protected on two sides by precipices that rose fifty meters into the sky, like the gap where a hill that had been cut in half. The jungle floor gave way to gravel and scree that felt uncertain underfoot. Sky led, and her hunters followed as close as they could. There was no doubt they'd been noticed; small Rock tribe hunting parties they'd disturbed on their way in had scampered away as soon as the war party approached.

"My enemy is endless, for every one I cut down, I will find two in its place. Victory is not a number, but an event." Taj had told her before she left. It was from the litany, and she repeated it word for word as they sped towards their destination. "My enemy is skilled, for every one I cut down, one of my own will fall. I cannot rely on a fair fight to bring me victory." She could hear him saying it as if he were there in her ear.

By the time they arrived, the Rock tribe had assembled. Forty Tree tribe spears met two hundred in opposition, a wall of poisoned points that bristled like a porcupine. The Rock tribe warriors filled the valley, shoulder-to-shoulder from wall to wall. Sky watched them passively, then bent. She searched among the scree and chose a palm-sized slate. She gazed off into the crowd of fierce-faced opponents, the threw. The rock arced slightly as it flew, tumbling end-over-end. One enemy dodged backwards in the line, then called an insult back, a cocky smile on his face.

"I speak for the Tree tribe!" She called out.

Another warrior stepped forward from Rock tribe's defensive line. He was large for an otter, and clearly fit. A feathered and beaded head-dress adorned his scalp. "I speak for Rock tribe. Have you all come to lay down your weapons and join us?"

"No. We come instead to offer you your lives. Call off your hunters and leave the Tree tribe lands, or Rock tribe will not exist by the end of the day."

The warrior laughed, and after a few seconds, the assembled line of Rock warriors joined him. "You're not even one for our every four. Your force is meaningless. Surrender or we will kill you all." He called out with a jaunty smile.

The smile lasted only a few seconds, before thirty nine more rocks launched from Tree tribe's diminutive force into the Rock tribe. There were muffled grunts and curses as some of the missiles found their mark. Then in a wave of anger, the Rock tribe's defense broke, charging down the gravel slope to meet Tree. Sky and her hunters weren't there by the time Rock descended. With her hunters in tow, she turned and fled. Off into the jungle she led, the Rock tribe howling for blood just a hundred paces behind.

Through the jungle they chased. When Sky led them over Three-Tree Gorge, they followed close enough to nip at her heels. When she and her hunters forded the quick flowing western river, they almost caught up. Two of her hunters were pulled down beneath the water when they weren't fast enough. She didn't look back. She led them to the slopes near Sky Mountain (the place after which she was named) and ran sideways along the jagged rocks. Rock tribe followed her, loud cries chasing after them as they closed. Hour after hour she ran and they chased, hunters of her tribe following every step of the way. It was a grueling task, and not every one of her hunters was up to it. The few that fell were overrun by the Rock tribe. When the battle was over, she would speak the litany for them. They would be remembered.

Then Sky let out a sharp bark. Her hunters gathered to her. There were just over thirty left, and all were tired from the run. Some of them had lost their spears. Back along the ridge and closing quickly, there were still over a hundred and fifty Rock tribe. She looked up at the sky. The sun was high overhead, and her force couldn't last much longer. The time they'd bought with the run would be long enough. It had to be.

As one, she and her hunters turned into the hill and raced. They were only fifteen minutes run from where they'd started, the entrance to Rock tribe's camp. Within minutes they were on the hard scree, and within five they were starting to climb. The walls of the valley lifted away to either side, and breath rattled desperately in Sky's throat.

Then over the gravel mounds Taj appeared. He was standing confidently midway between the walls, waiting passively for her. Sky sprinted with a burst of speed like a racer gunning for the finish line. Behind her, she could hear the footfalls of her hunters, and far behind that, the cat-calls and whoops of her enemies.

When she reached Taj, she stopped and turned. Her meagre force clustered behind her, gasping and panting in exertion. Rock tribe clambered into the valley, just a hundred paces behind, but stalled when they saw the hulking tiger blocking the way.

Again, the Rock spokesman stepped forward. "Why do you run? You cannot win! Throw down your spears and you will live!"

Sky looked around innocently for a moment, then called out, "Do you smell smoke?"

Silence reigned on the hillside. Slowly, over the panting and smell of their own tribemates, Rock tribe started to raise a cry. Fire! At their camp, there was fire!

"Who amongst you are fathers? Mothers?" Sky called out again. The warriors of Rock tribe hesitated. "Any of you who throw down your spears now may pass, and your mate and children will be spared. If anyone passes us with weapons drawn, the other half of my hunters will let the fire kill everyone remaining in your camp."

There were cries of startlement from the Rock tribe. Arguments broke out. The Rock leader turned around and called for order, but there was none to be had. Warriors pushed each other, and curses and insults floated up over the breeze and wafted back towards Sky. She didn't smile; a warrior doesn't smile until victory is already won.

Within moments, a Rock tribe warrior approached. He threw his spear down onto the scree, then raced past the Tree warriors. As he left over the hill, the dam broke. One by one, then in twos and fives and tens, the Rock warriors deserted, leaving their spears in a discarded pile on the gravel.

"You! You are the bitch that threatens children!" The Rock tribe leader approached as his warriors defected from his side. He held his spear high and threatening. The Tree tribe clustered around their shamaness, but Sky pushed them aside. She was a warrior, she would meet this head-on.

"You think your numbers give you strength, that you may take what you wish. They are equal crimes. The only difference is that mine worked." She stated confidently.

"It is not the same!" He cried, still approaching. Fifty paces, then forty, then thirty. "You take my tribe away from me!"

"You led it like a fool." Sky stood her ground. "You did not deserve to lead."

With a cry of unadulterated rage, the Rock tribe leader launched himself at Sky. She stood confidently, holding her spear at ease. She'd trained for this, weeks spent learning to block and dodge and stab. She was ready. Ten paces away, then five, then two, the Rock warrior dove...

But deep within Taj's mind, the warrior screamed an alarm. Sky had learned what she needed, but he had never meant to prepare her for one-on-one combat. She had trained for weeks, yes, but this Rock warrior had trained for his entire life. Sky was overconfident, she would stand until it was too late. The Rock warrior would kill her.

Deep within, where earlier the curled beast had woken, the cage door opened. This is what the beast is for, Taj's psyche told him. For his whole life, he's fought for ideals, for the scriptures that defined who he was. Never before had he had something to fight for that he could see and feel, and hold between his hands. Sky was worth fighting for, and the warrior wasn't enough. Now, he needed the beast, the primal creature that threw caution to the wind, even in the face of certain failure.

So when the Rock warrior's feet left the scree in his dive, so did Taj's. Gravel flew away from his feet, scooped out from where he'd stood as his legs propelled him between Sky and her enemy. Like so often in combat, time seemed to slow, and snippets of the litany filled his head.

Your enemy will stop at nothing to defeat you; expect to give nothing less than everything to defeat him.

The world spun around him as his freefall-trained inner ear lost touch with gravity. He was tilting slightly to the left. He held his hand out to correct. Now he was pitching forward. Lean, lean back, pull it straight, keep on target...

Every enemy you face will be tougher than the last. They grow stronger, wiser, more canny to your ways. The strongest one you ever face will, by definition, be your last.

In the slow crawl of time as he sped towards the Rock warrior, he could see the little changes in emotion as the enemies met. Sky's face slowly went from confidence to terror, as she realized that she wasn't fast enough to evade the wild lunge. She was starting to move, but not fast enough, not nearly fast enough.

Every enemy... Be ready... Control...

The weight of the litany collapsed under the prowling beast. A ragged roar pulled itself from Taj's throat as reality slowly sped up to meet him. He was strong enough, he was fast enough, he landed just in time to protect Sky...

And just in time to meet the Rock warrior's spear as it dug into his chest. It caught his shoulder, just below the collarbone. Immediately, Taj felt the numbness as the tribe's poison began to spread across his shoulder.

"No." It was his own voice. The warrior gazed up uncomprehendingly at the massive tiger. With a desperate grasp, Taj pulled at the spear. It dug through muscle and cartilage, but didn't pull free. Where ever the spear tip gouged, it left poisoned numbness behind. The Rock warrior held desperately onto his spear, holding it steady as Taj tried to pull back..

"NO!" The spear was immovable. Instead of being held by the otter, its far end was jammed into the rubble of the slope. Taj could no more push it away than he could push a mountain. But to retreat was to lose. The poison would overtake him, and the warrior would have his spear free to stab Sky.

You need not try to move the immovable. All space is relative, so by moving yourself, so do you move the immovable. Instead of trying to move what cannot be moved to get where you need to be, instead simply change where you need to be.

Taj gripped the spear and instead pulled himself forward, while the warrior simply watched in stunned shock. A new pain sprouted as the spear tip erupted from his back. Numbness reached his legs, and he fell to his knees, sliding along the haft of the spear until he gazed eye-to-eye with the enemy.

Then with the beast riding his mind like a demon on his back, his head snapped forward, fast as a striking snake. The Rock warrior jerked back, but wasn't fast enough. Taj felt his jaws close around a head, teeth catching just over the unfortunate creature's ears. With muscles fed by adrenaline, his vice-like jaws squeezed. Bone cracked like an egg between his fangs, then foul-tasting liquid splattered against his tongue. The warrior screamed, then was cut short.

The familiar darkness closed in over Taj as the poison seeped into his veins, and he barely had time to disengage his teeth before he fell unconscious.

---

The newly-expanded Tree tribe gathered around the crash site. Triple the number of slinky bodies than had called themselves "Tree" the week before gathered around the long indentation in the ground where Raptor had slid. Already, vegetation was starting to crawl back into the divot. In another few weeks, nothing but the twisted metal skeleton of the ship would be left to show what had happened.

Sky had insisted that the entire tribe accompany them as they gave their dead back to the ground. There were fifteen in total, eight from the old Tree tribe, and seven of the old Rock tribe that had died in the chase. Fifteen identical holes had been dug, and fifteen bodies wrapped in vines had been deposited, before earth was scooped back over them. The proceedings were solemn, quiet, as dissimilar to the previous night as it could get.

The previous night had been another celebration. The Rock tribe had officially ceased to exist, and the Tree tribe welcomed new brothers and sisters with open arms. It was simply a part of tribal life. It was their way of the world. Cheiftainess Sky had won, and there was no dissent. Maybe some generation later, when food was scarce, Tree would sprout into two tribes again, but for now, things had settled more-or-less peacefully. All of Rock tribe's sins had died with its chieftain.

Taj stood away from the group, crouched before Raptor. The ground had started to reclaim his ship, just as quickly as it had healed the scar Raptor had left in the ground. Vines grew into and out of the pod where Taj had spent decades of his life. It was almost unrecognizable as the sleek fighter that Raptor had once been.

He reached down into the cockpit, moving vines and creepers aside, and lifted the beacon. It was no larger than his fist, and covered with small jet nozzles. He pushed at one side, and a small manual console opened. He could type a few short commands in, and in a week, he'd be recovered, he'd be the returning hero who'd shot down a Fornan, and his genes would be used to make the next generation of warriors. He typed on the beacon's console. Raptor down. Pilot survivor. Then he considered the console, staring at the piece of "sky-tiger" technology with an air of uncertainty.

"Sky, may I ask you a favor?"

Taj's voice wasn't very loud, but it carried through the clearing like a thunderclap and left behind only silence. The old Tree tribe members watched him with reverential respect, and the old Rock members with fear, but the end result of both was the same.

"Yes, Taj?" She seemed more sombre than the rest today. Taj didn't need to ask why. He knew.

"Would you gather all of the children together here, in front of me?"

Her silence was enough. She was confused. He turned, and the wound in his shoulder pulled painfully at him. He ignored the pain. Pain is just your body's message to the mind. It is yours, you can master it. Sky was staring at him, an uncomprehending look on her face.

"Please, I'd like to speak to them."

She appeared to think for a moment, then nodded. Out from the crowd, small otters garbed with the same tribal wear as their parents stepped forward. Some were tall enough to almost be adults, while others were still so small that their heads and limbs almost outsized their bodies.

"With your permission, Sky, I'd like to train them as warriors."

It took precious seconds before sudden understanding blossomed across the cheiftainess' face. First surprise, then abject pleasure. It was a burial, it was not a day for happiness, but her smile was bright enough to light the clearing anyway.

Taj typed two more commands into the console. The planet's coordinates in real-space disappeared, replaced with zeroes. The second command overrode the beacon's navigation. No tracks, nothing leading back to the backwater planet where he'd crashed. There would be no recovery. With a flick, he hurled it up into the air. The beacon flashed brilliantly as it warped into null-space and disappeared.

The show earned a few appreciative noises from the children, but Taj's placid smile didn't change. He turned to them, leaning back against the twisted metal girders of Raptor's skeleton. "I am Taj, and I am a warrior. I want to tell you a story. It's a story about my friend named Raptor, and how he made me strong."