a thumpin' good time

pyong still wouldn't say anything. she was gadding about the hallway - just so obviously pleased with herself...and oddly, she seemed completely happy.

i glanced down the hall and saw a venusian turning the corner. pyong! someone's coming! disappear! disappear!

she didn't pay me any attention. it was terrifying. i was sure she would be seen, sure she would be noticed...and we had made no plans for our discovery. we couldn't even communicate with the venusians. gods, what if they were hostile? when the venusian was too near for my comfort (and as pyong continued to be exuberantly visible) i could stand it no more. i dove across the hall and knocked pyong into an alcove. my busily vibrating molecules may have shielded us both from sight for the venusian passed us without any reaction. pyong's insane giggling was muffled by my shoulder.

what is UP with you? you could have been SEEN!

"hahahahaha!" she said out loud.

pyong! shut up! you're going to get us killed!

"so dramatic, powder! let me catch my breath."

go ahead, but be QUIET!

"pant, pant."

*sigh*

"ok." she said more quietly, but still much too loud for me. "they know we're here."

"!!!!"

"they can smell us. in case you were wondering - that's how they know."

"they can SMELL us??" i took a quick whiff. *I* could barely smell me. how ever could they?

"that's how they communicate. by scent. but they sort of taste us rather than smell us...still it's the same sort of thing. we smell grassy, but not g-pig. we also smell somewhat scared, but essentially harmless. they've respected our *wishes* and have left us alone."

"you got ALL of that in one BITE? that venusian didn't even STOP!"

"well, no. the bite just got the venusian's attention. the message was a bit more complicated. it's not as though i'm accustomed to their language."

"er, well, how come i didn't get any of that?"

"it was real specific, powder. it directed its scent manufacturing apparatus just at me. essentially, it whispered. and then it apologized for racing off, but invited me to *speak* with other venusians in the lounge."

"that's why you've been laughing for the past 5 minutes?"

"i just think it's ridiculous that we've been tiptoeing around here like we could be discovered any moment and oh, i don't know, THROWN off the ship...and here we are and the venusians don't care. they are fine with us being here."

"yeah, i don't understand THAT at all. i thought they were terribly suspicious? i mean, on cavvy -"

pyong interrupted, "on cavvy, the g-pigs were LYING to them. and they may not have known what the lie was, but they could SMELL the dishonesty."

"hmmm. well, ok. but now what? how do we talk to them? we can't produce an infinite array of smells..."

"well, it seems that our telepathy is kind of handy, because i was able to understand what i was smelling partially because i could read what the venusian was thinking. it was also able to read some of my thoughts as i was in its mind. i don't think we'll have too much trouble understanding one another. they can also understand the g-pigs, and we were able to speak their language. so i suspect, speech won't be a problem either."

"well. fancy that."

posted by: barkalot at 23:11 | link | comments |

i was wrong about bunny brains over bunny brawn. and pyong went a ways to prove that to me when she lunged out at a venusian passing by us in the hallway. the venusian sort of flickered a moment when she sunk her teeth in, but didn't slow or stop or try to figure out why its appendage was sore or try to take revenge. it continued on its way.

well, at least it's not oozing fluids...so. you've bitten, now tell!

but pyong wouldn't tell. she suddenly appeared in front of me and licked her lips as she tried to identify the mysterious flavor of venusian.

in fact, she was paying me no attention at all. her eyes were unfocused and far away, her mouth was busy tasting, and her nose was twitching most actively.

after more than a few minutes of this i was worried. what if venusian was poisonous to bunnies? was she ok? she wasn't having any, what you might call, bad reactions to the tidbit of venusian she'd sampled...but she also wasn't responding normally either. or she was willfully ignoring me. and knowing pyong, that was not altogether unlikely. my spidey, er, bunny sense was tingling...telling me that something was UP.

i'd just decided to sink my teeth into HER paw, when she laughed. laughed and performed one of rabbit-kind's quirky ecstatic bounding leaps. she got about two feet in the air, twisted around and landed, only to bounce several more times in various directions.

what in the world??

posted by: barkalot at 00:32 | link | comments |

a week passed and we had learned almost nothing. well. not nothing, but not anything we could work with either. we had learned the venusians' schedule. we could not tell them apart, however, so we had no idea if the same venusians were doing the same things in the same places at the same times every day or not. we also had no idea where we were bound.

pyong, this is dangerous. we need to know more about the venusians if we are ever to approach them. and we may be running out of time! we have certainly put enough distance between ourselves and cavvy by now that the venusians will likely opt to take us wherever they are going...but our problem remains: we must make them sympathetic to our cause, our dilemma. they have to want to take us home. and we don't even know how our request - i'm getting ahead of myself! we don't even know how our very presence will be received!

you should just let me bite one of them, powder! they can't see us, no one would know! and we might learn something then!

no, pyong! no biting! we're going to be civilized. we're going to be rational. we're going to use our bunny brains, not our bunny brawn, to work this out.

no fun are you, powder-b.

posted by: barkalot at 00:00 | link | comments |

how we longed for a lab and some technical expertise! pyong wanted to run up and taste the venusians just to see what stuff they were made of. i think she planned to strategically bite one to obtain her sample. i talked her out of it...just barely, on the grounds that it might be perceived as a hostile action on our part. and we wanted to be on friendly terms with the venusians.

after a couple of days we were actually glad to have no secure hideout within the venusian ship. it gave us an excuse to follow the venusians around, observe them, and try to learn as much as we could about them - and most importantly, about their final intended destination. we are, after all, hitching a ride, in the grand tradition of the hitchhiker's guide...though i'm not sure douglas adams ever intended it for rabbits. still...we are very much in the position of arthur and ford on the vogon ship - stowaways, and not so very sure we would be welcomed.

it did not help that the venusian ship was so very alien to us. it was hard to determine exactly what they were doing - although it was obvious that everything was very strictly organized. the venusians did speak amongst one another, but we could not understand them. it was strange to us, when we had so easily understood the cavvian g-pigs. there was something there that we were clearly missing, and it was frustrating both of us.

posted by: barkalot at 23:53 | link | comments |

since the walls were see through anyway, we decided to people watch for awhile and learn about the venusians. so far they seemed industrious...but i'm guessing that that is pretty natural for any group of beings about to set off on a long journey. they'd BETTER be industrious.

little green space men? those are the ones that are supposed to have come from mars. the venusians, by comparison, were long tall drinks of water - almost literally. they were lithe, leaf-green in coloration, and flowed. yeah. something about them was gracefully viscous, and sloshed gently (as well as purposefully) as they moved beyond our field of vision.

weird, thought pyong, what do you make of them?

um. i hardly know what to say. they're like ungelled jello.

there was a soft sound that echoed throughout the ship. it must have been intended to call all of the venusians together, for that is what happened. they moved - more rapidly than our eyes could follow - to the center of the ship. from our vantage point they seemed merely a large green blob. one that suddenly glowed with luminious intensity. they were so bright we had to close our eyes. and as the brightness imprinted itself on our retinas, the venusian ship began to move.

holy crap, powder, what WAS that?

that was the venusian ship, pyong pyong, blowing this popsicle stand.

posted by: barkalot at 21:48 | link | comments |

our infiltration of the venusian vessel came off swimmingly. i vibrated, pyong disappeared and we snuck onto the venusian ship as they unloaded their precious and long-awaited cargo. my precioussssss...

hmm.

where should we hide, do you think?

dunno. let's look around.

we looked around.

the venusians did not believe in...opaque walls. whatever material divided spaces on their ship, it was completely transparent. this wasn't going to be easy.

the ship was large enough so that you couldn't see everything from one place, but it was going to be difficult for us to find anywhere that was going to be safe for any length of time. and we'd have to stay invisible.

pyong!

yeah?

this sucks!

tell me about it!

we grumbled some more privately, and then stalked off to a hopefully low traffic area of the ship to take stock of our situation.

posted by: barkalot at 00:25 | link | comments |

and while i slept, black beans stole me away and put me in the cargo shuttle. i awoke as we took off with a different, but equally fine, warm fuzzy side pressed into my warm fuzzy side.

"PYONG PYONG!"

"hiya!"

words failed us both and we grinned stupidly at one another for a few seconds. then pyong set to cleaning my face. she's convinced that boys can't take care of themselves. she's probably right.

grooming grooming grooming.

"so, when we get to the venusians' ship do we just go invisible and then sneak past them as they're unloading the cargo?"

"yeah, powder, that's pretty much my plan."

"ok. good. don't stop. i think you missed a spot just there..."

posted by: barkalot at 23:19 | link | comments (2) |

ARRIVAL

and with little fuss and fanfare we arrive in zoiza. back in the carrysak. over to the space port. drin quickly locates black beans. i am smuggled through some breach in the security checkpoint. drin and i are ushered into some nondescript box of a room with no purpose that i can discern. black beans says the time is not ripe. we must wait. again.

i hate waiting.

drin is smiling at me.

"good times, eh rabbit?"

i roll my eyes.

"yeah, special."

he scuffs a foot on the floor. "i've been wanting to thank you..."

"thank me? you've brought me all the way here. you led me out of the mountains. you've done everything you possibly could to help me escape from cavvy and now your crazed cavvian countrypigs. i should be thanking you."

"and are you?"

"um. yes."

"organizing your rescue and escape has had surprising benefits. namely, it's gotten me out of the wilderness...piqued an old g-pig's curiosity. i thought my adventures were over...a long time ago." he sighed. then with a wink, "it would appear that MY adventurin' days are FAR from over. i can honestly say that i'm glad you came along and shook things up a bit. no need for THIS g-pig to go to seed before his time."

i caught myself grinning like a mad bunny. "oh drin." it was all i could muster.

"oh, yourself. you keep an ear and an eye out, bunny. because you'll be hearing from me...and if you aren't hearing FROM me, you'll be hearing ABOUT me. i guarantee it."

we settled down next to one another comfortably. sometimes it's the best and only thing you can do. neither rabbits nor g-pigs (even interstellar ones) hug...saying goodbye is painful enough. it helps to have a warm fuzzy side pressed against your own warm fuzzy side. it says, "i'm here."

posted by: barkalot at 01:11 | link | comments (2) |

bad dreams...

we're a day from zoiza now and i'm having horrible nightmares. our compartment was locked down for the night, so i was able to sleep out in the open. but all night i was acting out awful scenarios in dreamland. like this: we arrive in zoiza only to find that the shuttle carrying pyong has already taken off. black beans meets us, but simply shrugs hopelessly at me. what can he do? he stalled as long as he could and we were just too late. i am trapped on this world. soon after, i am discovered by some security g-pigs who take me into custody. the vote to execute me is unanimous. i am returned to my cell to wait for my sentence to be carried out. a small voice in my head calls to me...pyong in space. "farewell, powder" she says sadly. there is nothing more to do. my waking self prods me to remember that i can walk through walls. i do, but am promptly attacked by flesh-eating weevils of some sort. writhing in pain, i awake...to darkness. we're so nearly there. it's the middle of the night and i'd like to talk to pyong, but when i tried to reach her, i only slipped into her dreams. they are better than mine. i should have stayed.

posted by: barkalot at 00:52 | link | comments |

i'm on my way, pyong pyong. drin's just let me out of his carrysak...so happy to be out of there! i've been in far too many cramped situations recently.

we're winging our way to you as quickly as may be - on some kind of levitating train...

hi, powder. i'm glad you're coming - finally. black beans has been telling the venusians all sorts of tall tales about why it's taking so long to get the cargo shuttle out to them. equipment failures, sick pilots, security issues...i think he's running out of reasonable excuses. and...a levitating train? how curious!

hurrying... drin says this is the fastest mode of transportation, other than taking some kind of space craft ourselves (and he said it would be dangerous to do that because they screen everyone - and luggage - just as we do on earth, and we don't know that i won't show up on someone's screen). aside from the space craft, cavvy doesn't permit that kind of speedy travel close to its surface. they have seen first hand the state of pollution our earth is in...as well as other worlds that are much worse. it's one of their solemn vows - never to pollute any world. they're very "leave no trace." the "train" is some kind of organic living creature - a weird caterpillar larva kind of thing with compartments. it has a thick exoskeleton that lifts up over each section and has enough space for 2-4 cavvians inside. they're bred specially for transportation. they're pretty fast, too, pyong pyong. much faster than we can run.

and they levitate?

yeah. weird, huh? i'm not sure how that works. the caterpillars have a basic intelligence and can be directed by voice command or telepathy. they prefer to have "pilots" who can connect mind-to-mind with the caterpillars, because the 'pillars operate more smoothly under those circumstances. a lot of the monks become 'pillar pilots. that's another reason for choosing this method of transportation. the master found us a reliable pilot who will keep quiet about my presence on this *flight*. so. i'll be there soon.

good. we'll keep a light on for you.

posted by: barkalot at 00:23 | link | comments |

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