End of an Era

walking limbs, instead of above and exposed as human arms are. These appendages were much more complex than ours. Each seemed to be jointed in four places instead of two and ended in a ring of delicate tentacles surrounding a trio of pincers, each of a different size. One pincer looked like needle-nose pliers, another like a parrot’s beak, the third an open circle like the letter C. Protected, closer in to the body, these manipulators had been able to evolve much more exquisite and widely differentiated structures than had the forelimbs of terrestrial animals. Behind these arms I was shocked to see that there were two smaller, less sophisticated manipulators as well — this beast’s ancestors had had six limbs, not four.

There was a vertical mouth slit about halfway down the brachiator’s broad chest. It fluttered open, but I saw no sign of dentition. Perhaps these beings didn’t play the risky game that so many of Earth’s lifeforms did, trying to use a single orifice for breathing, speaking, and eating. "Where is our brethren?" it asked. The warbling voice, high-pitched, like an adolescent boy’s, was clear and easily understood, although it still had those small gaps between each word that characterized Het speech.

I stood dumbfounded for a moment, then, gathering my wits, said, "This way." I walked over to where I’d set down the stasis box. My heart skipped a few beats. The mound of Het jelly was gone. We’d be in deep trouble if anything had happened to it. I looked around frantically, but the brachiator had already come over to stand next to me. Fortunately, its many eyes were apparently better suited than my myopic peepers for crepuscular searching. "Ah," it said. It bent its ambulatory appendages at what would correspond to the knee, lowering its torso to the ground. I saw that there was a smooth area on its back that was free from the coiling body covering, showing a rough gray skin with a pebbly texture. The jelly throbbed quickly over to that spot and began to percolate into the brachiator’s body.

In the short time it took for the jelly to enter, I came to a conclusion about the brachiator. It wasn’t an intelligent form of life. Rather, it must be a domesticated Martian animal. It made sense, of course, that there were creatures on their native world that the jelly beings used for locomotion, for hands, and for eyes. This must have been one of those. Since it had spoken, it must already be occupied by a Het. The Hets had said earlier that they weren’t individuals. I wondered if the two mounds of jelly, the one that had just entered and the one already within the brachiator, would unite into a single entity. I hoped they weren’t mad at us for killing its pachycephalosaur.

"You killed our pachycephalosaur," said the brachiator at once.

"I’m sorry," I said. "We didn’t know it was occupied. We just wanted to study its physiology. Please forgive us."

"Forgive?" The brachiator’s speaking orifice twisted in what must have been a facial expression of some sort. "It was only an animal."

I’m the one who had slaughtered that unfortunate dinosaur, but somehow the alien’s words struck me as harsher than my actions. "I didn’t want to kill it," I said. "But we learned much by studying its interior."

"Of course," said the Het in that alto voice.

"You came to retrieve your friend?" I said.

"Friend?" echoed the brachiator’s mouth.

"The Het who had been in the pachycephalosaur."

"Yes, we came to retrieve that one. When it did not return from its mission, we went looking for it. We found the butchered dinosaur and markings in the dirt that we eventually realized must have been made by some sort of vehicle belonging to you. We see now that you did no harm to the Het, but we believe our response was a prudish — a prudent — one." It had said all that without a pause for breathing. I hadn’t yet found the thing’s respiratory orifices, but I was sure now that they were completely separate from the mouth. The brachiator headed back to the fireside, and I had to jog to keep up with its Goliath strides.

Klicks was on his feet, staring at the brachiator, mouth agape. "My God," he said slowly. "You really are from somewhere else, aren’t you?"

"Yes," said the Het — the first time I’d heard it manage that word without it trailing off in a reptilian hiss.

Klicks pointed at the brachiator’s wide torso. "And that thing you’re in?"

"A vehicle. Not particularly well suited for this ecosystem — it has trouble extracting nourishment from the plant life here, and finds the sunlight too bright — but, for some application forms, a much more useful creature to inhabit."

Klicks gestured at the massive sphere behind him. "And that’s one of your spaceships?"

"Yes."

"It’s alive."

"Of course."

"Remarkable." He shook his head. "I’d give anything to take a spin in one of those."

The brachiator’s sausage eyes blinked all at once, single lids lifting up from below. "Spin," it said. "The action of a gaming wheel, no? Or to give events a desired interpretation?"