Telif, Arxur Defector

  Date [Standardized Human Time]: November 19, 2136

  The sounds of prey crying and begging filled my ears as I walked down the narrow corridors of the cattle farm. My senses were dulled by the constant onslaught as I surveyed our latest catch. A group of Zurulians that had been caught returning from Earth. They should have known the Terrans would sell them out to us as soon as they outlived their usefulness. Predators and prey could never truly live in harmony after all. I leaned over the cage, lifting a plump Zurulian into the air. This one should be saved for the captain, but I’m so hungry. I’m so very hungry. I raised him towards my mouth, and his cries were silenced as my jaws snapped shut.

  My eyes shot open and I was greeted by the sunlight starting to creep in through my blinds. It’d been nearly a month since my empathy test. A month of being plagued by the same nightmare every time I closed my eyes. Sometimes I was one of the herbivores in the cage, but, more often than not, I was their tormentor. The things they made me watch… They showed me the truth of what we were. I understood why the herbivores hated us so. I couldn’t blame them, and I understood why the humans were so determined to make sure I wasn’t a threat before they let me roam free on their planet.

  I wouldn’t have blamed them if they hadn’t even bothered to save me.

  Even though I had seen first hand the cruelty that my comrades could inflict on prey in the heat of battle, seeing the cattle farms was more than I was ready for. It was one thing to shoot a target that was firing back on you. Even eating their still warm remains could be justified in the moment as starvation clouded my mind, but this was different. These weren’t exterminators or opposing soldiers trying their hardest to kill us in turn. These were children stuck in a pen, having their limbs ripped from their bodies as they screamed and begged for mercy. I hadn’t felt that awful since Betterment showed me my mother’s execution.

  At least this time I didn’t have to pretend to enjoy it.

  The results had been conclusive enough for the UN representative, and as soon as I was cleared the doctor phoned Chief Hunter Isif and informed him that there was a complication, that I had ripped one of my stitches and died from internal bleeding. The doctor said Isif didn't sound surprised, since the doctors had no knowledge of Arxur biology besides the basic diagrams Isif had sent while I was en route to the hospital. They had essentially been winging it to patch me up and it was a borderline miracle I hadn’t bled out on the operating table. That melded well with how I had looked on the verge of death when he visited me. There was also our theory that he was trying to help me escape, all of which made it an easy sell that I had passed on. He also told the doctor to dispose of my body how they saw fit and thanked him for trying his best to save one of his people.

  After that it took a few weeks for me to be up on my paws again, and during that time Doctor Havashir and Anthony had been working with me to find some place out of the way for me to live and work. I didn’t have many skills outside of combat so my already slim pickings were even more limited. Eventually they found a promising opportunity; a town in the American city of Glenwood Springs, Colorado. While they had been spared from antimatter bombs during the attack on Earth, an Extermination Vessel had crash-landed in the mountains nearby and caused mass destruction on the small city.

  I’d been told that before the war it had been a fairly popular place for Colorado residents to visit due to the natural hot springs, but with all the damage the town had been closed to all but the surviving population. They were desperately in need of rebuilders, which is where I came in. I may not have any experience in construction, but I was stronger than the average human. They were willing to hire me as a contractor, and even provide a trailer for me to stay in. I would have been unable to rent a room myself, as technically I was not an Earth citizen and would have no real form of ID. This also meant that they paid me in [cash] “under the table” as they phrased it. I didn’t care what the job entailed as long as it meant I didn’t have to pick up a rifle ever again.

  I rolled over and picked up my data pad. It was 6:30am. I still had about an hour until my alarm would go off and then another half hour until my first day on the job, but I wasn’t eager to fall back asleep. I decided I might as well get ready to start the day. I crawled out of bed and took note of a few new claw marks in my mattress before heading towards the bathroom. Looking in the mirror revealed the visage of a tired gray Arxur staring back. I supposed if my eyes weren’t already red they would be bloodshot. The shower in the trailer was cramped, but I figured I should try my best to be presentable before meeting my new coworkers.

  Maybe this time you won’t get one of them killed for the crime of trusting you?

  The water warmed my scarred body as I hunched over to fit in the shower. They had given me the largest trailer they could find, but even so I could barely fit inside. Humans may be taller than most of the Federation Species, but I still towered over them even with my terrible posture. As I let the water run down my chest I found my mind drifting back to something I had been told as I was leaving the hospital. I hadn’t been keeping up with the news during my recovery, as Doctor Havashir was worried about anything that might upset me with the war development. But during our long drive from New York to Colorado, my escort had asked me how I felt when I found out there were other carnivores in the galaxy.

  “You mean you humans?” I asked. “Honestly I was surprised, we had been alone for so long I assumed we would never meet another race like us.”

  “No, no not us,” he replied. “I mean the converted species. The Gojid and the Krakotl.”

  I had just stared at him dumbfounded. All this time we didn’t have to be alone, we could have had friends in the universe, but instead the Kolshians and Farsul had worked together to make sure no predators reached the stars. Part of me was disgusted they could rewrite history like that and mess with another creatures' very DNA, but a quieter part of me wished they could have done the same for my people.

  I shut the water off and stepped from the shower back into my bedroom. Checking my data pad confirmed I had about an hour left now. I walked over to the kitchen and pulled some synthetic meat from the fridge, and tried my best not to think about the cries of the Venlil as I forced one of the pork chops down my throat. I couldn’t make myself eat a second.

  ~*~

  I’d spent the remainder of my time watching the news to see if there were any new war developments, but all the local channels were just talking about some upcoming human holiday. The sounds of movement outside let me know my new colleagues were starting to arrive, so I decided it was time to stop hiding away and go say hello. I took a deep breath, and opened the door to the brisk Colorado air. I immediately noticed a few humans gathered around each other. Remembering how unobservant they can be and not wanting to start off by scaring them again, I decided to call out before approaching this time.

  “Greetings!” I did my best not to sound nervous as I began making my way towards them, listening to the whispers they thought I couldn’t hear while they waved their arms at me awkwardly.

  “Holy shit they weren’t kidding about an Arxur working here.”

  “What did it say? I don’t have a translator yet.”

  “Why do you think it wants a job that doesn’t involve killing?”

  “Did it really pass an empathy test?”

  Humans really needed to learn that most species didn’t have as terrible of hearing as they did. At least this group didn’t seem as disgusted by my presence as the last team I was a part of.

  “My name is Telif,” I continued as I reached the outer ring of their circle. None of them offered up their name in response. “I look forward to working with you.”

  You’re absolutely nailing it, bud.

  Feeling a bit disheartened as my attempts to make conversation were met with only grumbles of acknowledgement, I decided to return to my previous tactic of only speaking when spoken to. Thank the prophet I didn’t have to wait much longer, as a few minutes later the other trailer on site opened up and a muscular woman with short hair and some sort of item in front of her eyes and a datapad in hand walked out to greet us.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “Good morning everyone,” she called out almost boredly. “My name is Beth and I am going to be your foreman. I don’t know how other jobs you’ve worked have gone, but when you work for me I expect you to listen and do exactly what you are told, when you are told. Safety is my top priority. If I see you without your hard hat or other safety equipment you will receive a strike. After your third strike you will be fired. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Yes ma'am,” we called out in unison.

  “Excellent, now before we start I am going to address the eight foot tall elephant in the room. Arxur, come up here,” she commanded and I walked forward to stand by her side. “What’s your name again?” she whispered.

  “Telif ma’am,” I quietly replied back.

  “Thank you.” She cleared her throat and returned to her previous tone. “This here is Telif. I am not going to go into his personal life, as that is his to share if he so chooses, but he is here after defecting from The Dominion, so discretion is key. Do not go posting about how you are working with an Arxur. Do not go telling your friends and family about it. Do I make myself clear?” The group called out in the affirmative. “And one more thing. I do not care what you have seen about his species on TV. I do not tolerate bigotry in my teams. You will all treat him with the same respect you would show each other. No Exceptions.” She stared out at the crowd as if challenging one of them to argue with her. “Good, it seems we all understand each other. Everyone come get your assignment for the day. Telif, hang back for a minute. I know you haven’t worked in a construction role before so I am going to find someone to show you the ropes, okay?”

  “Understood.” I appreciated that she had stood up for me, but I hoped it didn’t cause any rifts in the team. After about thirty minutes everyone had been given their jobs for the day leaving Beth and me standing beside her trailer.

  “Alright, I’m going to start you off simple today. You’re going to be with Jacob McCowsky on a bit of a supply run. The team we hired to deliver some cement bags left it at the wrong job site, and we didn’t find out until they had already driven several hours back to Colorado Springs, so now it’s on us to get it where it belongs. I let him know and he’s waiting by the truck for you. Any questions?”

  “No ma’am.”

  “In that case you are dismissed. Oh, one more thing. I know you Arxur may be stronger than us, but you lack our endurance, so don’t go killing yourself trying to keep up with Jake if he’s outpacing you, got it?”

  “Got it.”

  “Good man, now get out of here,” she said with the same snarl I had grown to enjoy from the doctor.

  I walked over to the man leaning against the truck waiting for me. He gestured his head towards the truck without so much as a hello. It reminded me a bit of working in a squad with my fellow Arxur, but hopefully with less claws slashing me if I made a mistake. Jacob climbed into what would be the driver's seat if humans still drove their cars manually, and punched our destination into the gps, while I climbed into the passenger side. Luckily our journey wasn’t too long, as it was spent mostly in uncomfortable silence. We arrived to find what looked to be over one hundred bags of cement tossed haphazardly in a pile. The previous crew had also seemed to go out of their way to put the bags as far away from where we could pull the truck as physically possible, so we were going to be doing a good amount of walking.

  “Well fuck me, looks like we aren’t doing this in one trip,” Jacob grumbled. “This is going to take all goddamn day with just the two of us.”

  “Yeah, this is going to be miserable.” Despite not being too bothered by it I wanted to try and relate to my coworker. “Let’s get this over with.” I wasn’t sure how well my attempt was received, but the human at least didn’t seem more bothered by my presence. I wondered if complaining about your job was a typical bonding experience among the terrans as I walked over to the pile of cement bags and grabbed one under each arm.

  ~*~

  Despite my large size allowing me to grab two bags to Jacob’s one per trip I soon found myself being outpaced by the human. While I was starting to get out of breath after five trips from the bags to the car, Jacob seemed to be barely bothered by the ordeal. After ten trips I was leaning against the side of the truck gulping down one of the bottles of water we had brought with us and gasping for breath. The reports on human stamina we had received appeared to be undersold if anything. I wasn’t sure if I would ever walk again by the end of today.

  Maybe you wouldn’t be such a detriment if you actually ate.

  I had just finished my bottle of water and was getting ready to start a new trip when I heard Jacob shout.

  “FUCK. GODAMMIT. FUCKING SHIT. CAN FUCKING ANYTHING GO RIGHT?”

  I ran over as quickly as I could to make sure he wasn’t injured, and saw him walking away from the site, a ripped bag laying between the pile and the car. “Jacob!” I called out to no reply. Didn’t he hear me? “Jacob!” I followed after him as the human approached a nearby tree and pressed his forehead against it. I thought I heard sniffling as I approached. Was he hurt? “Jacob?” I called out softly.

  “What the fuck do you want?” He whipped around to face me, his eyes puffy and red. “Can’t you just leave me alone? Fuck I thought you fucking lizards hated socializing.”

  I was taken aback by his outburst. Had I done something to upset him? “I apologize. I didn’t mean to upset you. Did I do something wrong?”

  “No fuck. It’s not you just. Just fuck.” Tears were beginning to pour down his face as he leaned his back against the tree and slowly sunk to the ground, burying his head in his hands.

  What’s going on? He just ripped a bag. Is he afraid Beth is going to punish him for this? I didn’t want him to get slashed for a mistake. What would Doctor Havashir do in this situation?

  I sat down in the dirt next to the human and placed a clawed paw on his arm like the doctor did for me when my heart rate would spike. He looked up at me in confusion.

  “Listen Jacob, I know you must be worried about being punished, but Beth seems like a reasonable captain. I’m sure if we explain it was an accident she won’t be too mad. If she is, I can take the lashing. Another scar won’t even be noticeable on me.” I tried my best to sound reassuring.

  Jacob looked up at me with pure confusion written all over his face, before he started laughing. “You-you think I’m upset because I don’t want her to beat me?” he managed to gasp out between laughs. “Fuck is that where your scars are from? I figured they were from combat. Jesus christ.” His laughter faded a bit when I confirmed that was the case. “Oh Jesus man, I’m sorry I shouldn’t be laughing but fuck. This whole situation is fucking insane. I mean, we all saw the shit you bastards did to the poor Venlil. We all thought you were monsters, but you came to save us when no one else would and now you’re here sitting in the dirt doing a shit job of cheering me up. I must be losing it.”

  I found myself laughing with him even though I wasn’t quite sure why. After a minute his laughter died down and I spoke up. “Sorry for asking, but if you aren’t afraid of Beth, why were you so upset about a single bag? Will we be unable to get more?”

  He laughed a bit again. “It’s not just the bag you dense lizard. Less than a month ago I thought we were all going to die. A week after the bombs dropped I’m fired because half our clients died and we didn’t have the need for a team of our size anymore.”

  Prophet that’s callous.

  “Two weeks after that my girlfriend tells me she fucked her best friend because she thought she was about to die and realized she’s a lesbian. I got evicted from my apartment because I blew my savings when I thought I wouldn’t see another month and couldn’t pay rent. I finally get a new job working construction and my very first fucking day I’m paired off for the simplest job they could think of, and I can’t even do that right.”

  Jacob was starting to cry again, so I decided to try something I had seen the herbivores do to comfort each other and wrapped my arms around him. The crying instantly intensified and I was afraid I had done something wrong before I felt his arms wrap around me in return and he buried his face into my chest. The two of us sat like that for a few minutes before I heard his sniffling stop and he pulled away from me.

  “Th-thanks… Fuck this is embarrassing. What was your name again?” I didn’t think his face could turn any redder but he proved me wrong as I laughed.

  “It’s Telif,” I replied cheerily. “Thank you for asking.”

  “Well Telif, I think we wasted enough time. What do you say we get back to work?” He gave me a soft snarl.

  “Sounds like a plan,” I said standing and offering a paw to help him up.

  Jacob was much more talkative as we finished loading up the truck bed. It was getting late by the time we finished our third trip between job sites, so Beth told us we could finish unloading tomorrow since it was already dark and the rest of the team had already headed home for the day. I had thought about reminding her that my vision was actually better in the dark, but my aching limbs made me think better of it. I was walking back to my trailer when I heard Jacob call out to me.

  “Hey Telif.” I turned and tilted my head. “See ya tomorrow.” He gave me a cheery wave as he hopped in his car.

  “See you then!” I shouted back before climbing into my trailer and collapsing on the couch. Every part of my body ached but for the first time since I had been drafted I actually felt happy. I popped on the TV and slowly drifted off.

  I can’t wait to see Jacob tomorrow.