Desperate Treatment, CH 07 (Patreon)

“At least we’re staying mostly dry this time.” Alex looked at the canopy overhead. He could make out the sparks on the leaves when raindrops hit them.

After noticing the grass sparking, and feeling the zap one when he’d touched one of the blade’s tip, he’d expected the rain, a few days later, to be an ordeal of electrical shock. Instead, other than being uncomfortably warm, it had just gotten them wet.

When it had ended, Alex had quickly stepped away from Tristan as to not get caught in him shaking the worse of the water out of his fur.

The forest, which they’d entered a few hours before, was all tall trees, with trunks that seemed too thin to support the thick canopies. The drops that fell off the leaves, instead of running down the branches and trunks, were large and left small pools of water on the mostly bare ground.

Tristan looked up. “Until the rain is intense enough to push through the leaves and branches. Then it will be that jungle all over again.”

“I’ll keep you warm.”

His Samalian smirked. “Being warm isn’t the problem.”

“At least on this planet the rain doesn’t seem to last for entire seasons.”

“I am considering moving our home so the Sho’Aran,” Tristan stated.

“And that is…?”

“The desert at the base of the Noanir.”

Alex sighed. “You’re going to force me to learn Samalia’s entire geography, aren’t you?”

Tristan smiled. “You should familiarize yourself with our home.”

“Aren’t desert usually very hot? You have nearly black fur that’s thick in place. And you like the air on the cooler side.”

“The nights are cold. And with proper air control, our home would still be comfortably cool.”

“How far from our friends is that going to—”

The motion in his partially obscure peripheral vision registered too late for him to do more than turn, then the animal was crashing into him, claw caught in his armored jacket. He had a knife in the animal’s side, but it slice over bones instead of sinking in.

Then it bit into his shoulder, and Alex screamed as his body shudder under the electrical discharge.

It ended with the weight being removed, but his body was slow to return under his control.

“Don’t let it bite you,” he manage to let out, then rolled onto his side.

The animal was large, taller than Tristan as it stood on its hind legs, his Samalian with an arm at its throat, keeping the teeth away from him, and sleek. Alex had the sense of something built for speed, rather than ambush.

He rushed to help, knife in hand, and this time, the cut went in deep and it let out a roar. It jerked back and Alex was on the ground again. It bared its teeth at him with a growl, but before it moved, Tristan was on it, the two of them rolling on the ground, and Tristan’s helmet rolling in a different direction.

Alex was on his feet, running for it, then turned in time to see the animal sink its teeth into Tristan’s arm instead of his neck. Instead of tensing, his Samalian raked the animal’s stomach, and its inwards feel out. Then he had his bloody hand on its neck and ripped it open, causing more blood to spew out.

After that, the creature animal grew lethargic and when Tristan shoved it off him, it barely let out a whimper.

Alex pushed the helmet into Tristan’s hands. “Put it on before the magnetic field affects you.” 

Instead, his Samalian stared at him. “Where’s your helmet?”

Alex touched his hair and looked around, swallowing the panic. He found it and had it back on when the obvious occurred to him.

“Why wasn’t I already falling? It only took a couple second after stepping outside the ship for it to affect us.”

Tristan looked at the canopy, as he put his helmet on, then the surrounding trees.

“Can they really be protecting us?” Alex asked.

“The fact you were able to remain standing does indicate that, at the very least, they lower the intensity of the field to a point where the effect isn’t as rapid.”

“So, what? The trees are made of ultra conductive materials?”

Tristan stood and looked over his arm. “They evolved under this environment, so they must have adapted in some way.” He took the sealant Alex handed him. “It could be why this predator is under the canopy.”

“Then how did those grass eaters resist it?” Alex swallows Heals and sealed his shoulder wound.

“They most have their own evolutionary protection. It would be interesting to cut one apart. What is it might be visible.”

“I suggested you hunt one the other day.” 

Tristan smiled. “Next time.” He swallowed the Heals. “Are there any sequels from that jolt?”

“I don’t think so, but the Heals should take care of it. How about you? I know you’re tough, but you looked like you barely felt anything.”

“I didn’t.” He looked at the dead animal. “It might be something it can only do once, and then need to recharge.” He couched next to it and used a claw to opening it up.

“Please tell me you didn’t hide that you were an expert in xenobiology on top of everything else for all these years.”

“Only human biology, and I’ve been studying Samalian one more in depth.”

“So, are you making sense of what’s in there?”

“No. My suspicion is that it evolved something that interacts with the magnetic field and causes it to generate an electrical charge as a weapon.”

“Doesn’t that mean the canopy doesn’t offer as much protection as you think?”

“Or it wandered in from the plain. We aren’t particularly deep within this forest.” He looked at his hands and put them against a tree. The water falling along the trunk washed over it and took some of the blood along.

“There’s bound to be a stream at some point.”

“If not, there will be somewhere the canopy is thinner.” Tristan looked around, then started walking again.

“So I have a question for you. How long until this place tears about our genes?”

“I don’t know.”

Alex chuckled. “And you didn’t even have to think about it.”

“I am well aware of things I don’t know.”

“You think a medical table can undo the damage?”

“A significantly advanced one can repair anything short of atomization.”

“But won’t it need a base template? I’m guessing it’s something it does the first time we use it, but we have a habit of destroying them along with the ship they were in.” Alex pointed behind them over his shoulder.

“I’m certain one of them is on a ship we stored instead of destroyed.”

Alex smirked. “I don’t here the same level of certainty.”

Tristan looked at him, and Alex figured that if they weren’t trapped under the helmet, his ears would be canted in annoyance. “We have too many ships stored over too many places to remember which ones are where. But I’m not concerned about that.”

“And why is that?” Alex asked with his Samalian coyly didn’t elaborate.

“Because there is plenty of our genetic material spread over the floors and walls of the vacation hover we have been living in. Some will survive until we get back.”

“Oh joy,” Alex replied dryly. “And if the medical table can’t tell them apart, I’m going to end up with fur.”

“You’d look good with fur,” Tristan said, glancing at him. “Vibrant red, with silver streaks, back along the muzzle and at the base of the ears.”

“I’m perfectly happy being a furless human who gets to take off layers if it gets too hot.”

Tristan leaned in and their helmets knocked.

Alex laughed, and his Samalian glowered.

“I need to find an alternative to these helmets,” he grumbled.

“And I now have a way to stop you from having your way with me,” Alex yelled, jumping out of Tristan’s attempt at grabbing him.

His Samalian smirked. “These also get in the way of me having your way with me.”

Alex imagined having Tristan on his back, rising him and being unable to kiss him. “Yeah, hurry up. We need something less cumbersome.” This time he didn’t move away when Tristan grabbed for him and found his jacket getting smeared with red.

“If we’re still in the forest tonight, once we have set ourselves high enough to be away from ground bound predators, we can put to the test how long we can go without wearing the helmets.”

Alex looked up. “The lowest branches are kind of high. I’m not the expert climber you are.”

“I doubt all the trees will be this tall. There are bound to be younger onces at some point.”

“Make sure they have thick branches if you plan on testing how long we can go without these helmets. Because we have a few days to make up for.”