Space Safari: Jubatus, Wisp, and the Monkey

[Cubist]

It looked like Wisp had dealt with the bugs in her own effective way, so Jubatus merely nodded at her rather than offering to assist her. "Okay," he said, "our target's up there. Looks like he's munching on some favorite leaves -- I'm thinking it might help if we gather a bundle and offer 'em to the beastie. Where d' you suggest we grab 'em from?" The feline's question was only natural for him, as his retinas just weren't as good at color-discrimination as human retinas were. Which didn't stop him from looking around and trying to identify the right breed of leaves, of course...

[Supercape]

GM

The little blue monkey continued to sat, seemingly quite content, on the slender branch of the tree (if tree was what it was).

Even colour blind, the thick juicy leaves it was eating were not hard to spot - they sprouted from several of the trees in the area. They were, admittedly, at least ten or fifteen feet from the ground, but that would not be a problem for either Wisp or Jubatus to reach.

[Azuth65]

GM

The little blue monkey continued to sat, seemingly quite content, on the slender branch of the tree (if tree was what it was).

Even colour blind, the thick juicy leaves it was eating were not hard to spot - they sprouted from several of the trees in the area. They were, admittedly, at least ten or fifteen feet from the ground, but that would not be a problem for either Wisp or Jubatus to reach.

Thinking about the idea she'd just come up Wisp was suddenly glad for the fact her costume didn't leave any exposed skin on her hands or arms, in case the plants had a sort of self-defense mechanism like growing with something akin to poison ivy's effects that local wildlife might now be as adversely effected by. "Well, I can grab a few handfuls while you try and make nice with the little space-simian."

In seconds, Wisp had a large pile of the leaves and was calling gently to the monkey, urging it to come over.

[Supercape]

GM

Wisp could easily enough ascend to the tree, although not to the more slender branches were the monkey sat. Slender as she was, they wouldn't support her weight.

The purple simian creature looked at her suspiciously, and then curiously, and then its eyes and nose attended the feast in Wisp's hand.

There was a blur, too fast for the eye to follow, and the monkey was by Wisp, munching leaves taken one by one from Azuth's hand. It was not yet entirely trusting, but it was now in arms reach...

[Cubist]

"Well, I can grab a few handfuls while you try and make nice with the little space-simian."

"You want me to play Speaker-to-Purple-Monkeys?" Jubatus replied skeptically. "Wisp, you may have changed your mind about the likelihood of the critter being scared off by my claws and fangs, but I think you were right the first time. How about you handle the interspecies diplomacy while I help out by gathering more leaves for the guest of honor?"

Which he did, assisting the teleporter to gather a larger quantity of Purina Purple Monkey Chow, in less time, than she could have with her own solitary efforts.

And then Wisp climbed up the monkey's tree: From what the feline could tell, she'd made a good start on befriending the little animal. Jubatus didn't try to hide himself away from the monkey, but he did stay a good distance from the tree that it and Wisp were both sitting in. Hopefully, his evident lack of interest in hunting the critter would persuade it that he, Jubatus, wasn't a threat to it, whatever it might think of his many sharp pointy bits.

And there was one other reason, aside from his scary appearance, that Jubatus left the 'no kill I' business to Wisp. The monkey was damned fast... but why? What sort of evolutionary selective pressure could the monkey's ancestors have been subjected to, that the present-day beast had speed to rival Jubatus' own? One possible answer, perhaps most obviously, was 'arms race between predator and prey'. On Terra, exactly such an arms race had made natural-born cheetahs the Land Speed Record-Holders of the animal kingdom, and made cheetahs' prey almost as fast. And on this nameless world...

Jubatus patrolled the area, cris-crossing it repeatedly, with an occasional short break to replenish the supply of leaves for Wisp and her purple guest. Because if there had been a speed-enhancing evolutionary arms race here... if there were a cheetah-analogue for the purple monkey to play 'impala' to... well, Wisp would never stand a chance against that kind of speedfreak. Her reflexes were only human, after all. It was obviously better for the first line of defense to be held by another speedfreak -- Jubatus.

[Azuth65]

After a few more minutes of offering the little creature the leaves and talking gently to it, the space monkey climbed up her arm and perched on her shoulder. It sat there, like the monkey from that one pirate movie with Johnny Depp, happily munching it's leaves, occasionally dropping bits of yellow food in her hair and then plucking them out. Using the commlink Supercape had set them up with, she said very softly so as not to startle their target, "Okay 'Cape. Mission complete, let's get out of here before we boil in our skin."

[Supercape]

"Good show" replied Supercape over the Intercom.

"I knew you chaps could do it! Although I must confess that was pretty fast even for a speedster and a teleporter" he chuckled.

"Can you bring the little fellow back here? I'll set up the teleportation disc to get him to Mr. Flower's sanctorium. Then It's cool beer for all of us. By Jove, I'll even drop you off on a little Ice planet I know for a half hour of freezing weather just to cool you down!" he joked.

The little monkey happily munched at the leaves in Wisp's hands and cooed at her.

[Cubist]

"Good show" replied Supercape over the Intercom.

"I knew you chaps could do it! Although I must confess that was pretty fast even for a speedster and a teleporter" he chuckled.

"You're welcome," Jubatus replied. "We aim to please."

"Can you bring the little fellow back here?

"Shouldn't be a problem. I'll play rear guard, just in case this planet's super-fast lifeforms include a vicious predator or three."

"I'll set up the teleportation disc to get him to Mr. Flower's sanctorium. Then It's cool beer for all of us. By Jove, I'll even drop you off on a little Ice planet I know for a half hour of freezing weather just to cool you down!"

"Sounds like a plan. See you at the disc."

After ending the conversation, Jubatus looked over at Wisp, who was getting along very well with the purple monkey. He half-regretted not having a chance to test his speed against the little beastie... Yeah, right. That would have interfered with getting the job done. He stayed well away from her; as she'd so correctly noted before, his built-in pointy bits weren't exactly conducive to befriending animals. Apart from that, there was always the chance that the monkey's speed was due to an evolutionary arms race; if so, the critter was likely to associate his kind of speed with "things that want to kill and eat me". The cheetah contented himself with making digital vidcam recordings of the little guy, in between frequent looks around for signs of incoming danger.

[Azuth65]

Wisp looked over at her new fuzzy friend and spoke softly, "This might be a little odd for ya but it won't hurt. Promise." Calling up an effort of her will, two two vanished from the tree limb and landed next to Supercape and the teleportation disc. Thankfully, the little space monkey didn't seem too freaked out as it grabbed another leaf and chomped lazily.

To Supercape she said, "Okay, let's get gone. There's a quart of ice cream at home now that's suddenly calling out to me."

[Supercape]

"Okay, let's get gone. There's a quart of ice cream at home now that's suddenly calling out to me."

Supercape looked at the friendly little animal and folded his arms.

"Well, it seems a bunch of tasty leaves and I good eye did the job as much as fleetness of foot!" he smiled. "Well done!"

Whilst the little green creature was happily chomping away, he started fiddling with the teleportation disc.

"Should be able to boost up back to Mr. Flowers sanctuary in a jiffy, folks" he mumbed "then back to Earth. IN the mean time, have you thought of a name for your little friend here?"

[Cubist]

"Should be able to boost up back to Mr. Flowers sanctuary in a jiffy, folks" he mumbed "then back to Earth. IN the mean time, have you thought of a name for your little friend here?"

Jubatus gave Supercape a skeptical look. "Giving the critter a name implies a long-term relationship, like maybe making it a pet. Kinda doubt that's a good idea -- does the phrase 'rabbits to Australia' have any meaning to you?" He hoped that phrase would suffice to make his point, but if need be, the feline was willing to talk about the potential dangers of importing a life-form into a biome that was completely new to the critter. "Apart from that, what makes you think this Flowers guy would allow Wisp to keep the critter? He's collecting specimens -- why would he bother, if he's not going to keep them himself, for whatever other purposes?"

[Supercape]

"Good points" replied Supercape, acknowledging Jubatus knowledge of history and grasp of the nuances of the situation.

"But there is also the fact that a new species is in front of us! and it deserves a name as a species. Something Latin, and appropriate. Wispius Jubatius maybe?" he said with a wink.

"But seriously, the species probably does need a name, and you chaps saw it first - well, you are the first humans to see it. So, you should probably be the first humans to name it. "

[Cubist]

"...the species probably does need a name, and you chaps saw it first - well, you are the first humans to see it. So, you should probably be the first humans to name it. "

"First humans, sure," Jubatus murmured... He actually hadn't considered the question of the beastie's species-name; he'd assumed that it already had such a designation, given it by one or another of the existing interstellar civilizations, but of course there was every possibility that none of their representatives had ever set foot on this planet. "Interesting idea. Have to think about that; what if some other sophonts have already classified it? But even if we do have right of naming, there's no way that critter's gonna fit into the nested hierarchy of Terran life-forms, so... hrrm..." It occurred to Jubatus that he had no idea whether the existing Linnean scheme of binomial nomenclature had already been extended to accommodate extraterrestrial life, and if so, how. "Definitely have to think about that... and check with the ICZN... before I lay down a name.

"In the meantime, how about we get the hell out of this open-air oven?"

[Azuth65]

"I'm with Jub, there's probably already a scientific name associated with the little guy," Wisp said, rocking the little monkey that'd fallen asleep in her arms. She moved up to the teleportation disc that would get them out of the alien ecosystem. "Is that thing ready yet? Aside from this rather oppressive heat, if I get back to the school after curfew, Headmaster Summers is going to give me so much detention." she stated, sweat all but pouring down her forehead.

[Supercape]

"It certainly is!" replied Supercape.

I hope!

He made some last minute adjustments, mumbling away as he did. "Interesting little planet this, you know, rather pleasant really, very rich biodiversity. Despite it all I might come again, with a nice cold beer and an Ice pack. Pick up a sun tan. Let me know if you chaps ever want a little picnic, won't you...ah, here we go!"

With a click, he activated the teleportation disc, and then started his concentrating, entangling two points in the time-space continuum, directed by the alien technology he had in his hand.

Once again, space distorted and wobbled around the three heroes and their sleeping passenger, until with a pop, they disappeared...

...reappearing again in a brilliant white clean room. The only feature was a raised area of the floor, about table height and circular in shape. Its surface was like liquid light.

Mr Flowers stood in the room, with an impassive face, and an immaculate grey suit. He still wore the perfectly preserved blue carnation that he had when Supercape had first met him.

"I am Mr. Flowers" he said by way of introduction. "I am familiar with you, Wisp, and you, Jubatus, and have of course already met Supercape. Congratulations on your first acquisition" he said, with a brief smile, offering his hand to the three heroes. "We have prepared a suitable localised-biosphere for the specimin, on the light-disc..."

[Cubist]

"I am familiar with you, Wisp, and you, Jubatus, and have of course already met Supercape. Congratulations on your first acquisition" he said, with a brief smile, offering his hand to the three heroes. "We have prepared a suitable localised-biosphere for the specimin, on the light-disc..."

Jubatus stepped ahead of his companions, interposing himself between Flowers and them (the purple monkey included). "That's nice. But before we actually, y'know, make the delivery, I want some answers from you, Flowers. First off, why does a hyperadvanced Galactic entity like you need to call on a bunch of primitives from a low-rent planet like Terra? Why couldn't you handle the job yourself, or at least bring in people from any of the real interstellar civilizations?"

[Supercape]

GM

"Primitives?" replied Mr. Flowers, genuinely surprised. "I think you misrepresent the genetic potential of Terra. It is true your civilization is, by my standards, relatively technologically simple, but you are far from primitive. No, indeed, Terra and its inhabitants, particularly homo sapiens, are of the utmost interest to me. "

He gestured to Supercape.

"As for the task, travel to hypervelocity stars that have left this local galaxy is beyond our means. I have become aware however, that Supercape is able to travel anywhere in the universe, and, if I understand correctly, beyond. Hence, he was the obvious choice for this task of biological preservation. In addition, we anticipated, correctly, that he would have the resources - namely yourselves - on Terra to facilitate the actual location of the specimin for transportation back to this facility. For that, you have our gratitude. "

[Cubist]

"...I want some answers from you, Flowers. ... Why couldn't you handle the job yourself, or at least bring in people from any of the real interstellar civilizations?"

"I think you misrepresent the genetic potential of Terra. It is true your civilization is, by my standards, relatively technologically simple, but you are far from primitive. No, indeed, Terra and its inhabitants, particularly homo sapiens, are of the utmost interest to me. "

"What a coincidence; 'utmost interest' is just what a slaughterhouse has in the cattle that go into it," Jubatus snarled, not bothering to even try concealing his deep distrust of the Galactic entity. "Exactly what sort of interest do you have in Terra? And why, exactly, did you feel like recruiting Terrans for this job -- trying to keep a low profile so the Galactic gendarmes don't interfere, or what?"

"As for the task, travel to hypervelocity stars that have left this local galaxy is beyond our means.'

The cheetah scanned his surroundings with a decidedly jaundiced eye. "With the kind of resources you're showing here, you can't get hold of a starship? Yeah, right. Flowers, I don't know what you're hiding from us; I don't know why you're hiding it; but I know damn well that you are hiding something! And I don't like hidden agendas at all." Now Jubatus turned his attention to Supercape: "I suggest that you prep whatever voodoo you do to bring us back to the monkey's homeworld, and be ready to take us there at a moment's notice. Because if Flowers doesn't feel like playing straight with us, I say we put the critter back where we found it and call it a day."

[Supercape]

GM

"I have no means to prove to you what I say is either true of false. Your presumption that I am misleading you is based on instinct rather than logic however, which is...regrettable. " replies Mr. Flowers calmly.

"If your primitive emotional response compels you to return to the hypervelocity star, then I will not oppose it. Whilst I do indeed have vast resources at my disposal, and could attempt to prevent you, Supercape's transportantions facilities are faster than my own. In addition, the use of force to prevent loss of the specimin is clearly a risky venture at best, and counter productive at worst. "

"You are thus free to go if you chose to leave. I calculate the odds of losing the specimen permanently as slightly less if you do so. I will be forced to use other slower, less capable resources, and whilst the odds are reasonable, they leave a significant margin of probability that the planets biosphere will degrade permanently before the rescue can be made. "

Mr. Flowers showed no outward sign of emotion. He displayed some cold disappointment at prospect.

"The matter, and indeed, the blood, is in, and on your hands".

[Supercape]

Supercape scratched his head at the interchange.

"I don't know exactly how we can sort this one out" he said, genuinely confused "you haven't given me any reason to doubt you - or to trust you. I would imagine you could easily conceal the truth from us. And yet, I imagine I cannot find fault in your argument. Weighing up the possibilities, I don't want the loss of an entire species on my hands, if there is any chance of preserving it. Although I wonder..."

He kept silent for a moment, before handing Mr. Flowers the Monkey.

Mr. Flowers smiled, if not warmly, then without malice or anger.

"A logical decision. I am relieved". He replied, before placing the creature on the table of light where it was enveloped briefly and then disappeared.

"And now, I bid you goodbye. I will, I hope, see at another point for the other specimens" he added, referring to Supercape.

A few minutes later, back on Freedom City

With the help of the teleportation disc, Supercape brought the three heroes back to Freedom City, the main square.

"Thanks for your help folks. I think Jubatus concerns are ones that have nagged me. I did wonder actually whether we should also make a preserve here on Earth, although were we would have the resources to mimic the atmosphere, gravity, and biosphere, I don't know. I don't think even the Lab could do it long term..."

[Cubist]

"Thanks for your help folks. I think Jubatus concerns are ones that have nagged me. I did wonder actually whether we should also make a preserve here on Earth, although were we would have the resources to mimic the atmosphere, gravity, and biosphere, I don't know. I don't think even the Lab could do it long term..."

Jubatus made a peculiar noise which sounded just like contempt ought to. "There already is a suitable environment for the beastie -- its homeworld. Sure, a hypervelocity star will eventually leave the Galaxy -- but 'eventually' is the operative word. We're talking about speed in the vicinity of 1,000 kilometers per second, and one lightyear is a little over nine-point-four times ten-to-the-twelfth kilometers, okay? That means the monkey's star system is gonna take about" (here, the fastest living forepaws blurred before Jube, as if he'd consulted a calculator within a fraction of a clock-second) "nine-point-four times ten-to-theninth seconds -- about three hundred years -- to move a distance of one lightyear. Just how many lightyears will that star have to travel before the distance gets to be a problem, hm?"

The feline shook his head. "Well, what's done is done. And for all any of us actually does know, Flowers is exactly what he seems, so..." Jube trailed off with a rumbling sigh. Then, in a conversational tone: "You know, there are a lot of things I'd just love to be wrong about."

[Supercape]

"You know, there are a lot of things I'd just love to be wrong about."

"In this case, my feline friend" answered Supercape "I would love you to be wrong too..."

He gazed out at the sky. The sun was setting and the twinkling stars were popping out.

"It's an awful big universe out there, and its been around an awfully big time. And its going to be around a lot longer, unless we have some dimension hopping apocalypse. You never know. We are just insignificant motes in the grand scheme of things. All we can do is at least try to do the right thing, even if we are wrong. That star, it's going to die someday. Not soon, but some day. And maybe we saved a little piece of life on it. Maybe we didn't. But we can't just sit back and say we can't do anything"

He sighed. He really didn't know what Flowers was up to. All he could do was hope he was doing what he was saying he was, and that someday Supercape would find out, and sleep easier.

~ Fin ~

...for now...