The Nature of Predators - Why the Caged Bird Sings (6/11) (Patreon)

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Memory Transcription Subject: Cala, Krakotl Child 

Date [standardized human time]: September 3, 2137

I liked the sun, and how warm my head was—Earth’s outdoors were not cold like the cell! The place we crash-landed in had looked very different from here, with wilderness and trees everywhere. This UN outpost was nestled inside of a giant city, where there were towers and lots of humans! I remembered how Zhao said the locals might be dangerous, so I tried to stay down low in the box, occasionally peeking over the top. Andrew carried me and my belongings onto a train, setting me down next to him. Mama wouldn’t have liked being in an enclosed space with lots of Terrans, especially with a few standing up and holding onto metal poles for balance. She would’ve said they wanted to remain active to hunt.

Why was I thinking about Mama now, when I was supposed to be excited about not being stuck in jail forever? Andrew had agreed with the Secretary-General when he said that I’d be different to raise from a human child; I wasn’t sure what Zhao meant, since his people hadn’t seemed that different from mine. The exterminators were wrong about them being mean and violent, though it made sense that they’d hate me for what I did to them. I wished I could undo that, and have all of the half-prey be my friends. It was awesome that Andy offered to take care of me, and I was excited to see how he lived. He said there was a big screen to watch cartoons!

I’m going to be living in a city just like the ones I hurt with the bombs. Look how big these towers and the whole settlement are: I destroyed something with all of that. So many people…

Andy smiled at me, tapping his fingers on the rim of the cardboard box. “Almost there, Cala. Don’t be shy; I told you, you’re not annoying. What do you think so far?”

“I want to fly around, once I know where you live,” I answered half-heartedly.

“It’s a good idea to wait until you have your bearings. There’s no sky signs here, and there’s air traffic all over the place.” Several of the humans were staring, perhaps only now realizing I was a Krakotl. “I’m sure you remember how to fly though, and you’d be fine at a low altitude. The gravity isn’t too strong here, so it can work.”

“Yeah.”

My new papa pursed his lips. “I thought you’d be happier, Cala. It worked…you’re free, and with me.”

“I know, but I still feel sad. You said I deserve a chance to be a child. What if that’s not true? I’m already hateable. You don’t deserve to get your face more hurt because I’m here, or for me to be hard for you to raise.”

“You’re not hateable. There’s lots of Krakotl who are scum, but you’re…innocent. You didn’t understand what they told you. I told you not to blame yourself.”

“Wouldn’t you feel bad if you were me?”

Andrew slumped his shoulders. “Yeah, I think so. Anything where someone gets hurt in relation to what you do…it’s natural to feel guilty. One of my nightmares back at the zoo, it was messing up the times the animals were released back into an enclosure. I’d seen people get…hurt, because the timing was wrong and they were still in there.”

“Hurt by the predators? Because that’s their role?”

“Any large animal is dangerous. Prey can be dangerous. Someone is invading their territory, so they try to protect themselves.”

“Like Earth did.”

“Yes. Like us.”

“But you didn’t hurt me. The soldiers didn’t either.”

“We…understand when someone isn’t a threat, or at least, is no longer one. Contrary to what the Federation said, the last thing we wanted was to go around killing unarmed kids.”

“The Krakotl are the ones who killed unarmed kids. That was bad and cruel, like burning any predators is.”

“It was bad and cruel, but you’re not, Cala. You don’t have a hateful bone in your body.”

I kept my beak shut, but inside, part of me felt like I hated Papa—my original papa. How he’d always been annoyed by me and gotten angry had made me feel worthless. I tried to draw him a sketch at school one day, of me and him painting together on his favorite easel. It had been something I was really proud of, and thought he’d like, but he just screamed at me for doodling during class. My father had said that it was a waste of time for me to even go to school, and that might’ve been why he pulled me out to focus on the exterminators. He’d only gotten more upset when I started crying, because he ripped up my drawing with his talons. He told me he’d never want to paint with me, and left the paper scraps outside my bedroom door.

Andy painted with me. Maybe I could draw a picture of us both drawing on an easel and give it to him, like he gave me all of that awesome stuff for my hatchday! I hope he won’t tear it up because he has no use for it.

The human carted us off of the train, marching with confidence toward a rising building with a couple of floors. This was his “flat,” as he called it in the Terran language. I thought about how he’d taken my coloring book away when I drew the tiger on fire, and how mad he’d been. He promised not to yell at me again—and he hadn’t—but I still didn’t want to risk him thinking my drawing was stupid or that I’d been indulged too much. It was enough for me that he’d said it wasn’t annoying for me to sing. I watched him walk into a box with opening doors, and press a button that glowed. That caught my attention, and I recognized the human numbers. I began pecking the buttons with my beak, laughing as they lit up. They were shiny, like the things I liked to pull out of the Brivalian Swamp on Nishtal, when I got kicked out of the house.

“Okay, Cala, don’t hit them all!” Andrew called out, grimacing. “It’ll make us stop on every floor.”

I twirled around inside the box. “Does that mean we can explore all the floors?”

“Maybe some other time. They’re just people’s homes, and we don’t want to disturb anyone that lives there. They might not like us so much.”

“Okay. I just want to look for other kids to play with, so I don’t bother you all the time.”

“First off, you’re not bothering me. If I need to relax or be alone, I’ll tell you, civilly—like a normal, sane adult. Second, I’ll figure out ways for you to meet kids if you want to go places: parks and whatnot. But I think your best chance will be once we get you in a school.”

“I miss school! I can’t believe you do actual experiments in your science classes. It sounds dangerous, but fun!”

“It’s not dangerous, Cala, not if you follow instructions—which I know you’re really good at, so you don’t have to worry.”

Andrew stepped off the elevator with me in tow, after a slight delay due to my love of pressing buttons. His holopad buzzed in his pocket as he walked down the hallway. Already struggling to carry me and unlock the door, he let the call go to voicemail. I hopped out of the box once he set me down, closing the door behind us. There was a couch—which was a giant fluffy seat with pillows and cushions on all sides. I flew into the upright portion of the furniture, crashing headfirst on purpose. The human chuckled, before checking his holopad messages; recognizing whoever called him, he redialed whatever contact it had been. I began to explore the space, soaking in how huge the windows were—big enough to fly out from the fourth floor. 

I hopped over to look at the view, since I’d really missed being high up. Nothing looked as cool from the ground, and everything was more scary and towered over me. The sky was yucky looking today, with lots of gray clouds covering up the sun; I hated how often there were days like that in this region, since it meant my cell would be dark all day. Here, there were plenty of lights I could turn on. I fluttered up to bump the light switch with my crown, then knocked it back down with my beak. The bulbs rapidly alternated between on and off in the room, as I flicked the switch back-and-forth as quickly as I could. Andrew pressed his holopad to his ear, a grimace on his face, and I stopped myself before he’d get annoyed that I was being immature. 

However, once I started eavesdropping on the conversation that he thought I couldn’t hear, I realized he wasn’t tense because of me.

“Why is it that your father and I can’t come over for dinner? This is our regular night, and you haven’t given us any kind of reason for the sudden cancellation. Do you not want to see your own parents?” a female voice asked on the other end of the line.

Andrew sucked in a sharp breath. “Mum, I’m sorry to bail on you, but things are…complicated here right now.”

“Is that about a girl? Don’t tell me you got back with Rose; she was possessive, and nothing but trouble. I’ve long suspected you still carried a torch for her, and you know we wouldn’t approve.”

“I told you, that’s over! It’s nothing like that. Look, this might sound crazy, and I do know you won’t approve, but I’ve just…adopted a child.”

There was a long silence on the other end of the line. “That makes no sense. Is this because of what happened to your brother? I know there’s a lot of orphans after the bombings, but you can’t save the world.”

“If anything, James is a reason I wouldn’t do this, but you wouldn’t understand. I don’t want to save the world; I can save one person who would’ve otherwise…rotted, and who’s already had a hard life. My daughter showed me how to let go, Mum. Helping her helps me.”

“Andrew, do you need to see a psychiatrist? You’re talking crazy. And if this adoption thing is so wonderful for you, I don’t understand why we can’t come over.”

“Because she’s still settling in. I just brought her home.”

“You can’t make big life decisions and expect your own parents not to be involved, after everything our family has lost! We’re coming over, tonight.”

“No, you’re not. You can’t.”

“Why in the bloody hell not?”

“Because she’s not human. There, I said it! There…there was an eight-year-old on a warship that I was supposed to guard. A Krakotl. I took her in.”

The voice on the other end of the line grew angry. “What the fuck is wrong with you? You adopted one of them? Part of the fucking ships that killed your brother—with all the humans who need adopting, that’s the thing you pick to help?” 

“Cala needs me. She’s just a child. I knew you’d be angry and blame her, and that’s why you’re not coming here. I don’t want that energy near her.”

“You don’t have to worry about that anymore, Andrew. We’re never visiting you again: not while you’re helping those monsters. You’re a disgrace, spitting on James’ memory! It should’ve been you.”

Andy lowered the holopad slightly from his ear, an injured look passing over his bruised face. His features hardened, jawline locking in a way that looked ugly, before he disconnected from the call in wordless fashion. I couldn’t believe his mom had said she wished he died instead of his brother. He was so nice, and I didn’t want him to be sad or have anything happen to him! I knew how icky it felt when parents said terrible things, and I hated that he’d had to hear those hurtful words because of me. Maybe he should have adopted a human instead. However, there was something familiar in the nastiness his mother had thrown at him, and I wondered if that was why he understood me. That could be why he was so upset by my Papa’s actions.

I’d understand if he wanted her not to be mean and disappointed in him; she won’t love him if I’m here. Maybe he’ll get rid of me now. It’s not fair that I caused the physical wounds on his face and what’s happened with his family.

I hopped over to the human, trying to wrap my arms around his torso, even though he was too big. “Do you want to send me back?”

“What? No,” Andrew snorted. “I’m going to teach you two new human words. Repeat after me. ‘Fuck her.’”

“Fuck her!” I repeated cheerily, in his language.

“That’s right. We’re going to have a good day. Why don’t we get out the blender and make some smoothies with your favorite yellow fruits? Now that you’re not in a cold cell, you can have some icy food.”

“Okay! I like pecking ice cubes if you have those.”

“I’m sure I can manage that. After that, you can enjoy the nice comfy bed I set over for you; I’ll show you. You might like it.”

Andrew led me over to a small room, gesturing to a bed the perfect size for a human child, but super spacious for me. I squawked in delight as I saw a cartoon tiger on the blanket he had placed there, and I flopped down on the downy mattress with delight. The cot back in the cell had been rigid, metallic, and not fun to sleep on, but this was perfect! The walls were colorful too; I’d have to ask him if I could paint on them, the way I did in jail. I flew back toward him for another hug, loving my new papa way more than I ever had the old one. He chuckled, patting me on the head with a warm hand. It was obvious Zhao was very wrong about him being able to take care of me. If this was how human children were raised, then I wanted to be raised like that instead of the Krakotl way.

“I take it you like it?” Andy prompted.

I perched on his shoulder, hopping up and down. “Yes! Thank you, Papa.”

“Don’t mention it, Cala. We’ll cook and get some sleep tonight, and tomorrow, I’ll take you to the zoo. What do you think about that: seeing real Terran animals, and what I used to do for a living? What I will do for a living again real soon.”

“Take me to see a tiger! I’ll make it wear a party hat…”

“Not to spoil your fun, but maybe don’t do that. They are predators with big teeth.”

“Okay. No hats. Wait, could you put the hat on the tiger? You were a zookeeper, so you know how to be around them.”

“As a general rule, don’t approach animals unless you really know what you’re doing, and know you won’t startle them. It’s like what we talked about earlier, with any creature being able to attack you if you invade their territory. Whether it’s aggression or protecting themselves doesn’t matter when they’ve sunk their fangs into you. Can you just look at them from afar? Not fly off or do anything extra?”

I nodded with sincerity. “Yes, Andy. I won’t annoy the tigers.”

Andrew chuckled, before strolling back to the kitchen to begin working on this blended fruit mixture. I watched him with interest, trying to absorb everything I could about his behaviors and humans in general. It was a shame that his parents hated that he was helping me, but I really liked it here—and I wouldn’t forget what he’d gone through to make my life way better. Andy was so right that I needed him, and that he’d saved me from that lonely, awful cell. This was the nicest place I ever lived already, and I had the zoo to look forward to! It would be nice to see a tiger in a cage, instead of being the one inside the bars.

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A/N - 6! Cala takes her first train ride outside of the cell, and feels guilty mentally comparing the city to the one she bombed. Andy comforts her and takes her to his apartment, and promises that she’ll be able to find friends once she gets into a school. While our narrator loves settling in at his flat, with the couch and her own room, Andy’s mother disowns him when she finds out he adopted a Krakotl.

What do you think of the permanent-sounding separation between Andrew and his surviving family? How do you think Cala’s trip to the zoo will play out?

As always, thank you for reading and supporting!