Going Home part 2

Controller Melisa Sev made her way through the meadow sweeping her scanner over the ground in the steady, unhurried, motion, she had developed over the years of handling this equipment. The first few days of intense work; unpacking, setting up the base camp and equipment, and conducting the preliminary sweeps to identify the locations for a more in-depth survey faded away as she focused on the screen nestled in-between the two handles she held. A wisp of a breeze set the leaves of the trees along the edge of the meadow to fluttering in the bright sunlight. Insects buzzed in the knee-high grass she waded through. The earthy scent of plants and soil filled her a contentment she found, unlike many of the people she knew, only in the outdoors.

A feeling of being watched swept over her. She lifted her eyes from the screen she was studying and peered though the few strands of hair that had fallen free from her ponytail. Everything seemed in order as far as she could see. She brought her head up, brushed the loose strands of honey blond hair away from her face and looked around for the source of her uneasiness. The sight of Captain Darrow off to her left, leaning against one of the trees reassured her. She placed her hand on her lower back and stretched, tipping her head back until she could gaze up into the blue sky above her. She lost herself in the immenseness of the vaulted firmament, the intensity of the color, the scattered filaments of white gossamer clouds. So unlike the other worlds she has been on, from her birth world with its domes and endless cityscapes to the barren planets she visited digging for artifacts, looking for evidence of human presence.

An eternity seemed to pass before she lowered her head and looked around again blinking as her eyes readjusted to the rich shades of greens surrounding her. To her right she noticed a dark patch in the underbrush next to one of the larger trees. She cocked her head and squinted studying the shadowy spot. It moved. She gasped; forcing her to stay still as she studied the spot with the same intensity she had given the screen a few minutes before. Slowly she made out the outline of a four-footed animal standing in the shade of the leaf-covered branches. It stared back at her for a few minutes before easing out into the grass along the edge of the woods and sat down on its haunches leaving just its head visible above the waving tops of the slender plants, like a ship resting in the ocean. It opened its muzzle letting its pink tongue hang out as it panted. Controller Sev exhaled in a slow, steady breath. The animal was covered with black silky fur with floppy ears and bright brown eyes; it wasn’t like any animal she had ever seen before. She felt a longing tugging at her, a longing to run her hands down the furry sides, a longing to bury her face into the neck and hug it.

“What is that?”

Controller Sev started at the whispered question right behind her. She had not heard the captain’s approach. His lack of proper address didn’t register as she struggled with feelings she was unfamiliar with.

“I, I’m not sure.” She said in a hoarse whisper. She cleared her throat. Every dig she had been on was on worlds with creatures she was familiar with or at the very least read about. This one wasn’t like any she’d seen, either live or in hologram, or heard about in the whispered discussions between the more outlandish explorers, the ones not easily controlled by the Thinkers.

The two stood still watching while the animal sat watching them for several minutes before standing up, its nose twitching in an effort to catch any scent wafting in the breeze. It began backing away from the two humans until it was almost under the bush before it turned and slipped out of sight.

“What a beautiful animal.” Controller Sev said in a rush of exhaled breath.

Beside her Captain Darrow nodded in agreement.

“I could track it, Controller.” He said.

Her eyes met his, questioning his motives, judging the wisdom of moving into the unexplored woods surrounding them. Their relationship up until this moment had been professional with little to none personal interaction. She felt she was on the brink of discovery, a level of understanding of a new possible future for herself and the rest of humankind, a future consisting of more than being a cog in the machinery of human existence.

“Just to see where it went, not to hunt it.”

His eyes seemed to shine with the same inner desire to see the animal again she felt, a desire born in the moment of awareness of the dark, furry, creature’s presence, a desire she would not have believed existed within her psyche before.

“Let’s go.” She said.

It was Captain Darrow’s turn to study her with a penetrating gaze. He nodded as if he had made up his mind about something and turned toward the tree line. She secured her scanner and followed him into the woods. He led the way, slipping silently through the underbrush, stopping now and then to examine the ground or a shrub, following a trail she could not discern. They crossed a small stream and lost the tail for a few minutes before picking it up again further upstream. After a couple of hours of hiking, of climbing over or under fallen trees Bremmer came to a sudden stop. He held up one hand signaling her to remain quiet while he listened to the forest sounds around them. She closed her eyes and tilted her head in an effort to catch the sound that had brought him to a stop.

Bremmer touched her arm to gain her attention and gestured for her to follow. He moved forward one step at a time. A few yards further along he stopped again, knelt and with a gentle touch moved a few leafy branches enough for them to peer through the opening he had created.

Less than twenty feet away the trunk of a fallen giant of a tree lay across a small glade. Roots ripped from the embrace of dark soil dangled in the air forming a wall at the base of the trunk. In the space under the trunk next to the wall of roots a dark opening was seen. In front of which the animal they had been tracking lay licking one of the three young ones tumbling and playing nearby. It was their mock growls and yips he had heard as they crept up on the den Controller Sev realized, vocalizations she had also heard among the various whisperings and notes of sound of the living forest creating a musical, vibrant, background she had rarely experienced in her canned, preprogramed, life. As they watched a larger version of the black animal entered the clearing with a furry critter hanging from its mouth. Its white fur was dingy with dirt and patches were missing along a scar running down is left hindquarter. The young ones paused in their tumbling play, the one pinned by their mother wiggling free to stand by its siblings. Their noses quivered. Their tails, at first drooping, started to wag in delight as they recognized their sire and the meal he carried. He dropped the food in front of the black, nuzzled her with his nose and stepped back turning his head to study the shrubs hiding the human interlopers. He raised his nose, closed his mouth and sniffed the errant eddies of air trying to catch any stray, out of place scent.

The humans froze and held their breath as Captain Darrow eased the branches back into place. Controller Sev turned her head, one of her eyebrows raised as if to ask, what now? Captain Darrow brought a finger to his lips, then pointed back the way they came before easing back onto his feet and half standing. In a crouched position he slipped backwards to a more open area, stood up, turned around and made his way further away from the den. Controller Sev, trying to match Bremmer in silence followed him.

“How beautiful they are.” Controller Sev said in a low voice once they seemed far enough away to not disturb the four-legged family they had spied upon. “They are not like anything I have ever seen.” Her eyes were alight with the unexplained wonder she felt. Captain Darrow said nothing. He nodded his acknowledgement of her statement and headed back to the meadow they had been scanning. She sensed they had shared a profound experience, one with the potential to change everything humanity had become. She said nothing more, needing time to process what she was feeling, letting the silence settle around them and resumed her work. Captain Darrow returned to his place, leaning on a tree, keeping an eye on the landscape.