The Nature of Predators - Why the Caged Bird Sings (5/11) (Patreon)

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Memory Transcription Subject: Cala, Krakotl Child Prisoner

Date [standardized human time]: September 3, 2137

I knew I had to be on my best behavior when this “Secretary-General” arrived. I could be good and quiet, just like I was when Papa found me extra annoying! Anyone who was a leader of government stuff was scary to me, after how Captain Karlem had yelled and wanted me to react faster to his commands. If Zhao was a screamer too, being obedient and respectful was something I could do to redirect his anger. It wasn’t like I didn’t deserve to have the humans’ top general shriek at me, after I helped hurt Earth. To be able to live with Andy, I could take it! It would be awesome to get out of here and fly in real air again, with more sun than just what slipped through that one window.

There were lots of extra soldiers, a little different from the ones who captured me, but definitely soldiers all the same. They swept through my cell and were all over the place inside the jail, keeping watch. I liked it better when it was just Andy; their eyes were cold and distrustful. Even my new papa seemed anxious about the Secretary-General’s arrival, keeping his arms folded around his torso tightly. When he sat down, he tapped his leg on the floor with nervous energy. I wasn’t sure if he was scared of this human, or if he was worried what Zhao would decide about letting me out. Would I be here…forever if I messed this up? Now I was even more frightened! I didn’t want to ruin Andy’s plan.

I don’t know how I’m supposed to act at all, and I think the general is already here. There’s paint all over the walls too—what if he gets mad about that? It’s too late to wash that away! I look dumb and immature; Earth doesn’t need an annoying chick who helped the exterminators on the streets.

Andy suddenly leapt to as rigid of a posture as I’d ever seen from him, placing his open palm against his forehead. I caught a glimpse of a Terran with really dark attire, a lot like the soldiers who’d come in ahead of him; he had skin that was deep tan, and short black hair that had more volume than Human Papa’s thin mane. I tried to copy what Andrew was doing, and faced the Secretary-General with earnest eyes. Zhao’s eyes snapped toward me, as I stood with a wing awkwardly pressed to my head. He pushed the unlocked door open and knelt, making him less of a towering figure. He turned his face back toward his security, flashing his teeth.

“Nobody told me she was this adorable,” he chuckled, and I tilted my head in surprise. “Cala, is it? You don’t have to salute me.”

I lowered my wing slowly. “I was just trying to be good, like Andy. I’m sorry.”

“You’re fine. I see you like painting?”

“Yeah, but I’m not any good. Papa was way better. He almost got picked to paint Ambassador Jerulim’s portrait, and he always says that was his finest achievement. That’s pretty good, right? Wait, am I talking too much?”

Andrew cleared his throat. “Her father used to scream at her for being too loud, sir. He’d lock her in a tiny closet, tell her she was a mistake…he was glad to be able to get rid of her with the military. That’s the only reason Cala’s even here. She’s an abused child who just turned nine years old yesterday.”

“I see,” Zhao murmured, lines creasing his face. “Cala, I like hearing you talk. I’m trying to understand how you were allowed to end up here. Were the others on your ship all…okay with you being on the crew?”

I bowed my head in shame. “No. I let them down, and Karlem made sure I knew it. The other crew thought I was a nuisance and didn’t want to hang out with me, then said I’d slow them down when I crashed…and that any idiot with a beak could press the weapons buttons! I mean, I’m glad I let them down, if it means I…killed less humans. I’m sorry for doing that bad thing to Earth; I didn’t know it was a bad thing then. I just wanted to protect Krakotl and make Mama and Papa not ashamed of me; they said predators had to die!”

The Secretary-General bit his lip. “Cala, what I was asking was if any of the crew thought it was wrong to conscript children into the military…”

“Oh. No. It was my decision to join, so why would they? It was really scary in combat, and I didn’t like it. All the adults were scared too; I tried to be brave. I remembered thinking when we fell, and the Ark-sur were here, that I’d be eaten or smashed into the ground. The ship smashed everywhere! Some of the Krakotl looked very funny, twisted up.”

“Er, yeah, we noticed that. The soldiers thought it was odd that you were left by the wreckage, alone, when we found others of your crew later on; this explains a lot. I have a question about us, Cala. What did you think when you woke up here?”

“That I was cattle, but then, Andy didn’t eat me. He didn’t even yell at me—at least, not much—when I tried to talk to him! I know why I’m here now…that I deserve to be cold and lonely. I’ve tried really hard to stop deserving it, and to learn everything in the lessons. I won’t be wrong about stuff again.”

Zhao’s brown eyes narrowed. “Sure you will be. Nobody’s perfect. Why do you think being wrong is such a bad thing? Is it why you’re trying so hard to learn?”

I nodded my head in the human way. “When I used to go to school, Papa would look at my tests. However many questions I got wrong, he’d make me say I was a failure at dinner that many times before I could eat…right in front of Mama. It was humiliating. I tried not to miss questions, but I kept disappointing him anyway. I wasn’t good enough.”

“Cala, that’s not how a parent is supposed to treat their child! You did nothing wrong,” Andrew interjected, forgetting his reverent silence around the Terran leader. “I don’t care how many questions you miss. I’m teaching you so you can have the knowledge that’ll prepare you to face the world and understand it. No one’s good enough if the standard is perfection.”

“You know, Cala, he has a point. You should think about listening to him.” Zhao pressed a hand to one side of his mouth, as if he was whispering secretly to me. I giggled, finding it comical since Andy could obviously hear him. “Why don’t you paint me something you think is fun? I’m going to have a few words with Andrew here.”

I grabbed a paintbrush, turning my back to the humans. As I thought back to my first memories of drawing with Andy, I picked out the orange, black, and white colors—the right group to make a tiger. My wings moved with energetic motion to splash on the stripes, after making a clumsy outline; however, when I thought about it, this wasn’t going to impress the leader of Earth. Growing bored and realizing the drawing was already ruined, I changed the predator animal to look more fun. I added in a party hat between the round ears, then switched to drawing an unrelated sketch of me playing a guitar. When I ran my wing across the real instrument, it hadn’t made the pretty sounds, like Andy’s music did. I began chirping a happy song as I worked, though I quickly stopped myself. That was what got me in trouble with Papa.

Is Zhao talking bad about me with Andy right now? I should listen to what they’re saying. They think I can’t hear them, but I can if I really try!

“Are you sure you know what you’re getting yourself into?” the Secretary-General asked. “I hope you know exactly what you’re signing up for, because it wouldn’t be right to the child if you back out when it gets tough.”

Andrew scoffed. “Of course I do! I want to help her. She deserves so much better than—you heard what, sir.”

“That’s not what I mean. Raising a child is incredibly difficult when they’re human. This is an alien from another world: a complex, living sapient that we didn’t know existed a little over year ago. She’s fundamentally different in terms of her needs and development. You can’t just take her to the medical clinic down the street, or feed her an aspirin for a headache without thinking.”

“I know that. I’m willing to do the reading, with whatever info we have.”

“The United Nations Department of Alien Affairs could help, checking in on her and giving you guidance. Still, she’ll never be the same as you on a biological level. You can face this truth or not, and it’s a kind thing you want to do, but you might be in over your head.”

“I don’t think so. I’m used to taking care of all sorts of different lifeforms. I can do a better job than keeping Cala locked in this tiny cell, only seeing the sun from between those bars way over her head.”

Zhao sighed. “It’s not ideal. Nothing about an eight-year-old—one that was barely eight, at that—bombing a priceless cultural center and metropolis like London was ideal. That’s the other reality, Andrew; not all humans will be so forgiving, despite her age. She’ll always have to look over her shoulder. If they find out what Cala did, or just see a Krakotl child walking down the street or playing with their kid…it might be safer here than living out there.”

“Would you rather be alive in a cage, or free? Because if it’s the former, humans should’ve never left Earth.”

The Secretary-General weighed these words for a few moments, before walking up behind me. I’d heard exactly what the two humans had been saying, about it not being safe on Earth because they’d blame me for people who died, like James. Some half-prey would hate me forever, and might want to hurt me just like Mama said Terrans did. Would I be that difficult and annoying for Andy to take care of, because I was living like full-prey? I didn’t want to be a problem that he had to deal with; Zhao seemed to think he might ship me off too, just like Papa did with the extermination fleet. Andy was different—he wouldn’t do that! Still, I didn’t want him to get beat up again, because he helped me. What if he got more hurt next time, and it was my fault for not stopping this from happening?

I want to see Earth and where Andrew lives. I want to see a real tiger…and I don’t want to be stuck here forever. It’s no fun to be locked in a cage, whether it’s this jail or a Krakotl closet. Maybe some of the other humans can forgive me, and be my friend? Zhao doesn’t seem mean or hateful.

“Is that a guitar, Cala? Is that something you want to learn to play?” the Terran leader asked, inspecting my drawing with a surprising level of interest.

I nodded. “Like Andy! Then I can sing and bang on the strings!”

“I heard you singing. You have a pretty voice, Cala.”

“Really? It’s not…loud, or annoying?”

“Not at all. If you’re being too loud with humans, I promise you’ll know. We’ll cover our ears like this!” Zhao pressed open palms to his earlobes, which made him look pretty goofy. He flashed his teeth as I giggled. “Human ears are awfully big to cover up, aren’t they? We’re animated with our reactions. You can’t miss it.”

“You should have hats for your ears, to block out noise.”

“Ear hats. I’ll take that under advisement, Cala. You could be an entrepreneur; look at you! We do have something called earmuffs, but I like your name better. At any rate, I’m not wearing muffs now because I don’t mind hearing your happy, fun voice one bit.”

“Neither do I,” Andy agreed.

“See? Your father is outnumbered in thinking you’re too loud. There’s two of us, and one of him. Go out and play the guitar if that’s your dream!”

I tilted my head. “Go out?”

“Yes, Cala—out into the world. I think it’s time we packed up all of these fun paints, and let you leave this place with Andrew. Security, can you bring me those papers?”

I felt a rush of excitement at the thought of finally getting out of here. I’d been jailed so long, that this was the best hatchday present ever! Now, Andy wouldn’t leave me at night when I went to sleep, or not be able to take me places. He could throw the type of party he said he wanted to for my tenth hatchday; the possibilities were endless! Even if it wasn’t safe, this was my chance to learn and see even more of Earth. It couldn’t be more dangerous than being in the extermination fleet, in space with lots of guns shooting everywhere. The Secretary-General accepted a booklet that he’d already had ready, and signed a sheet of paper with a smile. He then pulled the door fully open, gesturing toward the hallway with his free hand.

Andrew hurried over to help box up the paints, books, toys, and blankets he’d brought me. “Thank you so much, sir. I won’t let you down. I won’t let Cala down.”

“I’ll try really hard not to disappoint you!” I chirped. “Thank you for letting me out, Mr. Zhao. I’ll be really better, I promise!”

The Secretary-General chuckled, handing over the stuffed animal snake from the ground: one of Andy’s lessons. “I wish both of you all the best. There’s still plenty of time for Cala to live a life free of ignorance and hatred. She deserves a chance to be a normal child.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Andy said, placing the box on the floor so I could hop in. It took me a few seconds to catch on, but I climbed in so he could pick it up and carry me out of the cell. “All she wants is love. She’ll have that with me, unconditionally.”

Zhao waved the pen, flipping to another page. “Hang on. Aren’t you forgetting something? You have to sign the adoption papers too, Andrew Burton. I’m not forging your signature.”

I looked around the hallway once he set me down on a desk; I’d never seen what was outside of my cell. This jail was really big, so there must’ve been lots of Krakotl here! I guessed they were kept in a separate part of the prison, along with those other horrible guards who’d beaten up Andy. My new papa’s eyes shone with warmth as he signed the adoption papers, and ruffled the feathers on my head. I stretched my wings, wondering if I still remembered how to fly; I missed how free and light I’d felt with the wind lifting me up. The humans couldn’t fly alongside me, so maybe I shouldn’t do that just yet. There were no sky signs here to stop me from getting lost, but I wanted the view from the clouds of this planet of natural balance.

Once Andrew completed his signature, I knew it was official that I’d live with him, where he’d be nice and let me play. Just like the humans had taught me that predators weren’t supposed to burn…maybe Krakotl chicks weren’t supposed to be silent either. It was time to spread my wings and sing my song in a place where Cala wasn’t a mistake anymore.

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A/N - Part 5! Zhao comes to visit Cala, and learns about her backstory, her mistreatment, and why she went along with the bombings. He surprises her by being kind and encouraging, about her paintings and musical aspirations; he also ensures that Andy truly knows what he’s signing up for by taking in a non-human, and that he won’t back out. Do you agree with the Secretary-General’s assertion that it’s not too late for Cala to live a life free from hatred? What do you expect her to do, now that she’s out of her cell and living with her new papa? Was it the right decision to risk her safety by letting her loose?

As always, thank you for reading and supporting!