Chapter 3

[Note: the telepathic speech will be in italics. – Merlin]

Justice looked at her two friends, seemingly frozen in place. She looked again through her binoculars. She saw a large feline of perhaps 100 kilos, mottled fawn on grey sitting on the rearmost of three pairs of limbs, 2 or 2 ½ meters from haunch to nose. Next to her was a smaller version, perhaps 60 kilos, mottled grey on fawn, half the size of the larger cat. The small one was sitting on his rearmost two pair of limbs and resting on his front pair, and seemed to have his eyes closed.

Jay Nelson said nothing for long seconds. 'Can you hear me?' she thought.

'Of course, I can hear you, ' Meriah sent. 'But you have not answered my question, and I dislike to repeat myself.'

Jay: 'Err ... ahh ... Sorry. I'm not used to this.'

Meriah: 'I await your answer.'

Jay: 'No. We don't want to kill or even hurt you... (Great Jarvis! If she can hear every thought, I can't even formulate an answer.) ... We didn't know your intentions and were being cautious.'

Meriah: 'OUR INTENTIONS? OUR INTENTIONS?'

I extended a forepaw and touched Meriah. 'Shouting hurts, dear. Please.'

Meriah to me: 'Sorry, my Grahhll.'

Meriah to Jay: 'You invaded our world. You carry things which you think can kill or maim. You approach my camp. And you worry about our intentions?'

Jay: 'May I have a moment?... (We have badly misjudged this situation. We thought they were just wild animals, but) ... M'am?'

Meriah: 'Yes?'

Jay: '(Gods! This is so hard.) ... M'am: can my comrades hear what we are saying ... err thinking ... saying-thinking?'

Meriah: 'Of course not. This is a private conversation. Only The Grahhll can hear, and he is involved only because of the distance involved. I assure you it is private.'

Jay: 'Can I be ... patched through to them. So that they can hear me talking like this? I mean ... if they're not harmed. Physically. They are okay, aren't they?'

Meriah: 'They may be frightened. But I have asked The Grahhll not to harm them ... Yet. I hope they will not remain aggressive ... But you may talk to them in your normal fashion. They can still sense everything normally. They simply may not move their external muscles.'

Jay: '(External muscles? I hadn't thought about that. The heart is a muscle. Gods! This is so weird.) ... Thank you, m'am. I'll talk to them now.'

Meriah to me: 'Does she really think we won't know her words? I would listen to the thoughts of the other two, Grahhll.'

Me: 'They are badly frightened. Badly jumbled. Worse than any wild animal. They will kill ... someone ... any one. They are used to being the dominant species in their universe.' I forwarded a sample of their thoughts to Meriah. She grimaced.

Jay (using her mouth to make the sounds of her speech): "Alexis. Gabby. Can you hear me?" She came around to look at their faces. "Blink twice if you can understand what I'm saying."...

"Okay. Good. Listen. Umm ... I've been talking to that ... or those two ... umm ... hexapumas on the hill. Maybe you can still see them through your scopes ... Two blinks from Alexis. That means yes ... I guess you don't have your scope sighted yet, Gabby ... Okay. I'm communicating with her ... umm ... via telepathy. I think. I just think the words and she just thinks at me, and I hear her. In my head. It's a female voice. I think it works like that. I've only 'talked' to one of them, so it may be that I'm hearing 'female' because I am. No, I called her 'M'am' and she responded ... Anyway ... They are obviously sentient. I'm going to try and get you released from this ... whatever it is that's holding you. But you have to NOT shoot them. Understand? Put the rifles in a non-threatening position."

Before they two could blink twice, of course, I perceived their intentions to cease the threat. I instantly communicated that fact to Meriah, who signaled with her fore-paw to free them, and I did so.

The two humans remained in kneeling positions, and placed the rifles on the ground at their side. Then they, nearly simultaneously, started talking to Jay, struggling to stand, unsure if their muscles still worked properly. She stilled their questions with an open hand gesture.

Jay: 'M'am?'

Meriah: 'Yes?'

Jay: 'Thank you for releasing my comrades.'

Meriah: 'Of course. We had no intent to harm you. If we wanted to kill you all, The Grahhll would have done so before you even landed. But we determined that you were the victim of a terrible occurrence, out among the stars.'

Jay: 'Out among the ... err ... yes. (Jarvis! How far out into space can they read thoughts?) ... Umm ... Thank you for allowing us to land. Umm ... I'd like to bring my team ... all of my team ... up to snap ... err ... I mean to let them know the current situation, and that we have visi ... I mean that we ARE visitors among intelligent species here on Carmody 3.'

Meriah: 'Carmody 3?'

Jay: 'That's our name for this planet.'

Meriah: 'Oh yes. You name everything. [chuckle] We call it just 'Yerowl.' ' It was said in our tongue which is difficult to translate into English.

Alexis to Gabriella, looking at their commander: "Is she..."

Gabriella to Alexis: "Yeah. I'm pretty sure she is."

Jay: 'Well, after I've updated all of them, I'd like to have a meeting with the Grahhll later this afternoon. To discuss other things.'

Meriah: 'You will most certainly not be meeting with The Grahhll. You will meet with me and a few of my sister heads of the clan. You will have nothing to do with The Grahhll... NOTHING! Is that clear?'

Jay: ('Oh crap! I've stepped in something.) ... M'am. I meant no insult. I thought 'Grahhll' was the name of your people. Nothing more. I am sorry if I inadvertently offended.'

Meriah: 'I sense no insult was intended and so it is forgotten. The name of our people is "the people." What name did you use earlier in speaking to your comrades? Hexapuma? The Grahhll has searched your mind and he says that it is merely a description of a six-limbed feline. That name will do for us, since you seek to name everything.'

Jay: 'Oh good. Then my team and I would seek an audience with whatever Hexapumas you deem appropriate to meet. At a time of your convenience ... If I may ask: what is a Grahhll?'

Meriah: 'The Grahhll is not a 'what' but a 'who.' He is THE singer of songs, THE teller of tales, THE repository of our history. There are many singers among the ... hexapumas. But there is only one Grahhll. He is first among many. And The Grahhll is my mate.'

There was pride in her voice which I was pleased to pass along to Jay.

Jay: 'Wow. That is super. I've never heard anyone speak so ... so ... so vibrantly about their mate ... I will go and talk with my team and meet you ... when?'