Cold as Ice

Although Jery'la had thought that Kura'hy was in the Depths with the cetaceans, they were wrong.

Kura'hy was interacting with a species in a much shallower Depth, because they had discovered that the cetaceans were not the other sentient species - aside from humans - on this planet. The sentient species were humans... and one that most of the humans thought was a myth.

In fact, most of the humans believed that this species was one single creature, confined to one body of no-salt water, called Loch Ness in the human language of the area.

The humans did not know about the entire colony of this species in a much smaller body of no-salt water, one that had a protective covering of ice. Or any of the similar colonies in other areas, whether theirs were protected by ice or not.

The members of this species were much smaller than the one in Loch Ness, and they had their own myths and legends regarding that one. In many ways, their stories of the Loch Ness giant were similar to the humans' stories of the species known as Bigfoot or Ape-Man or Yeti or Sasquatch, they were stories of that which was like - and yet unlike - them. To the saurians, the Loch Ness housed a giant rather like them... but horrifyingly, terrifyingly different in its alikeness.

Kura'hy liked most of the small saurian individuals in this frozen pond. They were unlike most saurians Kura'hy had encountered in all their time Traveling, as the icy chill of the water did not send them into hibernation, and they were sentient. As Kura'hy understood it, they had evolved from much larger saurian species of the land, who had slipped into the ponds and lakes to escape a great disaster that had occurred tens of millions of earth years ago. An asteroid had impacted the planet, eradicating many forms of life. The humans - most of whom thought they were the only sentient species - had evolved much later.

And the humans did not know about the saurians in the lakes and ponds near their lands. Certainly not in a frozen one.

But where Jery'la was a Science Traveler, Kura'hy was a History Traveler.

Jery'la was on land, partaking in the human's current technological era, and Kura'hy vaguely recalled some of the science speakings the Outfitting Engineer had given Jeryla at the outset of their mission - there was much talk about transport machines and the rules that governed them, and Jery'la had wrinkled their hide at the Outfitting Engineer and said that they were sure they could manage.

Kura'hy preferred moving their body through liquids and talking with the species they studied to Jery'la's predilection for studying technology and manufactured things. Ah, well, to each their own likings. That was the nature of the Home Realms, after all, to let each being live to the best of their predispositions. There had been some speakings of combining the Science and History Travelers' missions into teams, so they would have another of their species in case of emergency, but Kura'hy did not understand how this could possibly be useful. The Outfitters had disagreed rather forcefully.

Kura'hy wrinkled their hide in embarrassment at distracting themself; they were meant to be attending to this group of small saurians in a learning environment. Imagine several juvenile individuals learning the same things at the same time! This was unusual in the Home Realms, but was evidently common on planets outside them, and Kura'hy wondered how the humans instructed their young.

Yes, back to the instruction. "Green," the instructional saurian was saying, flashing its hide in a color Kura'hy's species would have called "red."

Red?

Kura'hy's minds flashed back to Jery'la saying they could manage such a simple task without help, and before they knew what they were doing, their body was in motion, maneuvering through the chill liquid of the frozen pond to their communicator. "Kura'hy to Outfitting, Jery'la is in danger, the color we know as..."

But they were interrupted by the Outfitting Engineer. "Yes, we have become aware," it said. "Jery'la is safely here with us. Do you need transport?"

Kura'hy felt their entire body sag in the icy water with... was it relief? Most probably; they and Jery'la were companions of a sort, after all. "No, Outfitter, I am well," they said, and flicked the communication device off.

But then they reconnected it. "Outfitter?"

"Yes?"

"About those Science-History teams..."