AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Yes! I'll show you their bay first so you know where to herd them to!"
Everyone else had fled the area and I understood why. It wasn't just the noise. I wanted to cut off my nose to stop the rank smell of rashipi poo. They must have been loose for so long that they'd begun to shit everywhere. Rak. I hoped the captain wouldn't make me clean it up. The bots should be able to deal with that, and if not, I'd get someone to reprogramme them until they could.
"It smells nice in here," Heather exclaimed behind me. "Like Christmas."
I turned around to her to see if she was sarcastic or really meant it. She breathed in deep, her eyes half-closed. Rak, she really seemed to like it.
"Is Christmas an animal on your planet?" I asked, trying to hide my disgust.
"An animal?" She laughed before taking another deep, indulging breath. "No, it's a religious celebration in the winter. There are certain smells I associate with it... cinnamon, berries, ginger, chestnuts... This scent is like all of them combined. It's heavenly."
I decided on the spot that I never wanted to visit Earth during Christmas. Why would anyone want to celebrate to the stink of rashipi poo?
A bang to my left made me whirl around. Something was moving behind a large crate, hopefully a rashipi.
"Rak, I was planning to pick up some of their favourite treats from their enclosure first, but I suppose we'll have to try and capture this one without. Just make sure to stay clear of its talons. And they like it if you scratch their ears. It makes them even more docile."
I slowly walked around the crate until the animal came into view. It was a youngling still, its fur still pale in places. They only turned a bright pink when they reached maturity. This should be fairly easy. Young rashipis instinctively followed anyone who was bigger than them. Stupid as rak.
I waved my arms to get its attention. It cocked its head, dumbly staring at me.
"Good little rashipi," I cooed. "Come with me. Yes, that's it, follow me."
It walked slowly, almost stumbling over its own feet from time to time. Rashipis had been bred for the quality of their fur, not their intelligence. I knew a few people like that too.
The little ball of fur paused, distracted by some of the crying of the other rashipis and darted off in the wrong direction.
"Nooo, come back!" I chased after it, which only seemed to frighten it and scattered all of them even more. This was going to take us forever.
9
Heather
Iwatched Atina chase after the rashipis with mild amusement. I'd seen plenty of people attempt to herd sheep before like that, mostly over-enthusiastic children, but I appreciated her commitment as she grabbed one of the pink fluff balls by their torso and physically wrangled her towards the bay. That wasn't uncommon either with unruly sheep who didn't want to be sheared.
And from what I could see so far, these rashipis seemed similar enough. Docile and friendly, easily spooked, but with bright colours that any fantastic knitter would kill to get their hands on.
I clapped my hands as a test, pleased when some of the rashipis looked in my direction while others startled and moved away from the noise. If they were receptive to sounds, that would make my job much easier. I just needed some help.
Over by the bay, Atina had managed to push her one rashipi into the bay and had closed the hatch behind it, making what I was planning impossible. She wasn't paying much attention to me though, and was instead dragging another six-legged animal along, which seemed particularly feisty.
"Atina?" I called, making her look up from her personal wrestling battle.
"Yes?" she panted back, the beads of sweat on her forehead glistening like diamonds. She was truly beautiful.
"Can you stop that for a moment?" I asked. As much as I appreciated her attempt, she was only scattering the animals more and creating mild panic in their vacant eyes.
The green-haired pilot looked confused but let her feisty rashipi go, which darted off as fast as its six legs allowed. Atina came over to me, already looking exhausted and like she needed a strong cup of tea, not that that was a thing on Kyven.
Maybe once we reached Earth, I could introduce her to one of life's simple but best pleasures.
"Do you have any food for the rashipis?"
"There should be some in one of the coolers.”
"Should we feed them?"
"I don't know, I'm not an expert on these rakking animals."
