Coda

I always anticipate stopping on this little planet for a small snack on the way to the asteroid belt. It gives the spawnlings a chance to stretch their tentacles, and I enjoy the opportunity to observe the native life in their own environment, as it were.

There are others of our kind that have found this out-of-the-way rest stop, but we generally keep away from each other. We are a fierce brood, and our spawnlings tend to have the kinds of fights that lead to blood feuds for several tentacle clusters' of hatchings. This is meant to be a relaxing place to regenerate, not scream in hate-lust over our enemies' bodies. Especially if those bodies just happened to be our neighbors back home. It can become awkward at community meetings.

So myself, my mate, and our latest brood settled down for a good feed in a large flat plain, full of waving plant stalks and fresh winds. It's a good place to watch the sky, because it can go from gentle to frenzy very quickly. We keep both sensors and optics on alert - there are still indigenous creatures we must avoid, as well as the weather and other sojouners who may not appreciate our visit.

We found an excellent site aside of a long set of graves. There were some creatures at a middling distance, eating the plant-food. Some predators were stalking them, but farther away than we were, so it mattered not for our safety. We chose one of the dead-houses, and I cracked it open for my brood, and they settled in for a good feed. I snagged a brain case or two for myself and my mate, since as adults, we appreciate the trace minerals in the food grinders. If one concentrates, one can ascertain where on the planet this being once originated. It is a good thought process to undergo, for a mid-cycle meal.

I observed the predators break cover, lope towards the grazers. Panic, scatter, and a few unlucky ones were driven towards the trap, where some hunters had lain in wait in the tall plants. I pointed this out to my spawnlings as we ingested, suggesting they learn a lesson or two for their next brood fight. They eagerly viewed the chase and kill, and marveled at our mutual love of food at this time-part of a rotational cycle.

"Pfah!" One of my broodlings spat. Something shiny pinged against the artificial ground below the dead-house. I idly glanced at it, then recoiled a little. It was one of those amulets that we occasionally locate while feeding. That poisonous metal! Again in that warding shape - overlapping ovals that sharpen to a point, almost like the tip of a weapon.

My mate touched my agratha in a soothing motion. "It is one of those pieces they once called 'jewelry.' That is the shape they called a 'heart.'" Their tentacle picked up a piece of discarded fabric, wrapped it around the tip for protection, gently probed under the dead-house, pulled it towards them. "I think they would wear these on their beings as a sign that they were loved. See the crack? If we could touch it without hurting ourselves, we would see it opens, and there might be a special token inside."

I was too busy checking my little spawnling for damage. "It is a dangerous thing! It could have killed this one!"

"But it did not, they continue to have a healthy color, so contact was minimized. They are not turning black, so they will live, and learn that our cautions about carefully unwrapping our meals is justified. I think I will take this for further study." My mate unlatched a container to safely carry the item, like they had so many times before. Their study room was filled with bits collected from this world each time we stopped. They had even tried learning the words, to better understand what had happened.

"Do you really think they were....intelligent?" I gestured to the death-houses, neatly lined up on the artificial ground, stretching in an almost straight line from one horizon to another. "It seems to me that they just - well, gave up and chose to die together. I do not think a creature wearing an amulet for love was as well cared-for if all that happened is they were left here with all the others."

"I am not certain. We avoid their concentrated areas, so perhaps the answer lies there. I am not curious enough to investigate those dangerous places. I assume what killed them all is well in the past, since our tests show it is safe for us. Except when it is not." They pointed towards the container with its deadly amulet. "Perhaps others of our kind can enlighten me, when we gather next. I know some have expressed an interest in investigating this world closely, though I am not comfortable leaving my brood to undergo the tests to determine if I qualify."

"The radiation treatments."

"Precisely. I wish to have more broods. Perhaps, when I age some more. But not now." They orbited their oculars to orient on our spawnlings, who had left the death-house and clustered around us. "Are you ready, my spawn? Have you had enough calcium and phosphorus to strengthen yourselves for the rest of our trip?" They all rippled eagerly and undulated towards the decontamination chamber before boarding our ship. Precautions. It didn't save whatever creatures were once alive here. We would not take that chance.

I rotated to take in this strange world. The black strip of artificial ground, with its death houses, some oriented one way, some the exact opposite. Their once bright and shiny colors were now almost all the dull red-brown of oxidized iron, with only a few flecks of the original coating remaining. The plants growing, the predators feeding, the rest of the fleeing cluster now observing ourselves and their fallen on a far-away rise. Would an amulet have saved the one that died?

Strange little world. But full of good minerals, that allow our broodlings to grow and flourish. Me and my mate undulated towards the now-empty decontamination box, so we could continue our travels.