Marianne Dyson: The Shape of Things to Come

“Squeak! Squeak!” The sound came out in two short bursts. Success! The beings turned in her direction! She quickly sucked in another batch of air. “Squeak! Squeeeaakk!”

The one who had attacked her earlier approached, coming between her and the elaw. The longer she delayed the elaw, the more time Enupten’s eye pieces had to harden their protective shells. So, even if she were unsuccessful in getting them to lift her out of danger, Suetork took comfort in knowing she had contributed to the survival of her group, as a good leader should.

“Squeak! Squeak!” she repeated. The pain from her wounds intensified with the intake and release of the bubbles. Her sisters undulated rainbows of concern at her from the wet blue. She couldn’t signal them without disturbing her collected eyes, but it was a comfort to know they watched and cared.

Did these new beings also care for each other’s survival? Suetork had to admit they had surprised her with their defense of their young one. But even elaw fought for their young when the survival of the group was at stake. With only one surviving young, these beings were probably near extinction.

The tallest one wandered off in the wrong direction. She assumed this was because that one had such short sense hairs, and they were clustered all on one end of its shape. The one holding the young on its back had much longer, and probably more capable, inputs that responded by waving in the wind. She would direct her sounds at that one. Suetork gulped another bag of air. “Squeak!” she repeated. The long-sensored one wailed a code at the tallest one, and it turned her way.

As Suetork rested for another sounding attempt, the tallest one finally spotted her. Amazingly enough, it didn’t step on any of Enupten’s pieces. In fact, it looked to Suetork as if the reason it took so long to reach her was it was carefully avoiding stepping on anything but sand. Either it was so ignorant it feared attack from the pieces, or it was saving them for later consumption. Suetork didn’t know which explanation she preferred.

At any rate, the creature came very close, then folded its long shape so it was closer to the sand. It was a very complicated thing to do, and Suetork had to admire its ability to redistribute its mass that way. It then made soft sounds at her, its eyes larger than before. She assumed the sounds and eyes enlarging were its way of releasing the pressure squeezed out from the folding.

Then the long-sensored one came, now with the small one held with its two upper appendages, and also folded up to be low to the sand. They both released a lot of pressure, emitting noises and waving their upper limbs. Were they surprised to find one of their young here? Had she fooled them?

The tallest one was about to touch her when the small one squealed and puckered its mouth. The one holding it responded by giving it a small brown log resembling the base form of a dead dipput. Suetork hoped some of her sisters noticed this. It might prove useful to know how the small ones squealed when they were hungry.

The tallest one still had not touched her, and Suetork feared they would decide she wasn’t one of them after all. With her leak, she could not pucker the skin she’d formed as a mouth. So, she made the same squeak as before.

In response, the beings showed their teeth! Suetork’s temperature dropped as she realized her error.

These beings had not ignored the food pieces scattered across the beach because they were not hungry—they ignored them because they preferred their food whole!

She must escape! But how?

Had her wounds emptied her brains? The being, alternately using one and then the other of its long appendages for support, had stepped over things! What a discovery! In this new shape, she could step over the hardening eye pieces of Enupten! If she arranged her mass to pool her leaking part on top, she would not even leave a trail the elaw could follow!

Suetork inhaled to build pressure in the four little appendages. Slowly, her primary mass rose above the sand. She concentrated on keeping her eyes and “mouth” on top. She tried shifting her mass to one side and lifting one appendage. Smack! She flopped to the sand, the four little appendages sticking out to the sides as before. How did the beings balance themselves on only two appendages?

She inhaled to build up pressure in the four little limbs and struggled upward again. But as she shifted her mass to one side, she wobbled and flopped back down. As she fell, her bubble of extra air squeezed out in a deeper, longer, “Squeaakkk!”

Suddenly, she was lifted into the air! The tallest one held her to its middle and ran its salty digits over her delicate pink hairs. Its mouth opened to show teeth—lots of teeth! The other one curled its mouth and showed its teeth, too! The small one squealed, waving its brown food stick toward her. Suetork quivered instinctively. They were hungry all right, and she was doomed!

The tallest one wrapped its upper limbs around her. Even as Suetork braced herself for absorption, she wondered how it would feel to be dissolved whole instead of scattered. Would some part of her continue, or was she to be the last Suetork? She almost envied Enupten’s fate compared to her own.

She wiggled, hoping the creature might lose its grip on her. But this action only caused the being to squeeze her more tightly. The being’s salty skin burned madly as it pressed against her wound, but Suetork clamped down on her response. Leaders must be brave!

While the tallest being held her tightly, the long-sensored one leaned close to inspect her. Why hadn’t they absorbed her yet? She allowed herself a spot of hope that she had fooled them after all.

Her leaking had nearly stopped, so she sucked in the tender hairless skin, created a bubble, and emitted another squeak. She tried her best to imitate the young one’s hunger call, to remove any doubts they might have about her being one of them.

Yes! The long-sensored one offered her a little brown food stick! As she sucked it into her “mouth,” she congratulated herself on her cleverness. Not only had she fooled the creatures into lifting her out of danger, she had gotten them to feed her!

She shifted liquid to her bubble to dissolve and absorb the mass of the food. It was covered with salt crystals! Never had she tasted any prey so wonderful. Her digestive juices pulsed in ecstasy, raising her body temperature and deepening her color.

As she drifted in a state of semiawareness, digesting the food, the tallest one folded itself and set her back down on the cold sand! Abruptly she spread her eyes and gulped air to lower her temperature. Why had they let her go?

Did they expect her to follow them? Maybe they only carried the young when they were leaking or hungry?

The winds had picked up again, and the temperature was rapidly dropping. Soon, it would be dark. The elaw had taken advantage of the tall ones being busy with her, and quickly dragged off what food they wanted. The danger gone, her sisters had begun washing ashore and changing themselves to sand balls to guard against the coming cold.

She had to make a choice: either join her sisters, or retain her new shape and go with the tall ones. Her kind’s survival would be enhanced if a group of them expanded into a new territory and diversified their food sources. The taste of the brown food stick lingered inside her, firming her decision. She must go with the tall ones now. There were only three of them, and odds were good they wouldn’t survive long. She would learn all she could from them, and then report back.

She signaled to her sisters and explained her plan to join the tall ones and explore the land beyond the dunes. They were sad, but also excited at the possibilities of new foods and the increased breeding opportunities success would bring. She appointed Vimrob as leader in case something went wrong, and then proceeded to lure the beings back to her.