Comradery Chapter 6

“Eric?”

“….”

“Eric?”

“….”

“Eric? I am honoring your request.”

“What is it, Al?”

I raised my head and looked down at Al as his face tilted to the side, watching those little marbles roll in their sockets. “You requested I not let you recycle beyond this hour.”

“I did.” I shoved off the couch rubbing my eyes and started pacing through the living room. Al’s eyes moved like a pendulum watching me. It didn’t matter. After four arduously agonizing months; I was getting nowhere. They’d taught him how to use the right fork for a salad and the use of napkins while eating at a formal dinner, but nothing of the world. As if sitting around talking useless prattle while having tea and cakes might change things out there. No more use to that than the word used to describe something beyond therapy. He couldn’t eat it any way. I wasn’t doing any better. Nothing was getting through to this - kid. The thing I’d wanted him to learn more than anything was that words had more meaning than what they were defined as. How can I explain phrases or the context changing depending on how words are different when they’re together? It changes because of who you’re talking to, the tone, the voice, expression, body language - UGH! It doesn’t even make sense to me half the time and I’ve been here my whole life! Sarcasm, idioms, slang, inflection. I can understand antonyms, but synonyms? F**k- why do we have so many words that mean the same thing?! Yeah, he knows the definitions of those words, but can’t fit the meanings together. Bridgette’s been breathing down my neck for a couple of weeks, but I’m in a god damn holding zoo with no exits and being given enough food to fatten anyone into submission or a coma.

“Eric?”

That mechanical voice did nothing to aid his personality. “What is it now?”

Al stepped closer grabbing my fingers again… again… “You’re recycle stages have more than doubled in the last calendar of days. You often wake with a racing heart and seem alarmed. Your intake is insufficient for your species.”

I stopped and covered my face with my paws. “Al, I know I’m sleeping too much. I know I’m not eating enough. I know I’m having nightmares. I’ve explained that I’m stressed and this is normal.”

“It is not normal. It is excessive.”

“How would you know?”

“I have studied most of your dictionaries, it was at your suggestion I researched basic phycology to better understand your people. You display classic symptoms of what is known as depression. I have made a list of things you can use to combat the episode. I spoke to Bridgett while you were recycling yesterday. She relayed they would give you medications if needed.”

I dropped my paws and stared at him. “Why did you explain any of that to Bridgett and possibly make it worse?”

"How can speaking with her make it worse when she is willing to make accommodations?”

“Because she’s part of the problem, Al. She’s the only one knocking at the door. Every time she comes in, she causes stress.”

“If she obtained medication, would it not lessen your stress? She said many medications can be beneficial.”

“Al, you can’t fix things like this with medications. It may mask the symptoms but if the underlying problem can’t be resolved it’s like; Covering an eye to make the other stronger when you’re already blind.”

“I do not understand.”

“I KNOW!”

“You are frustrated.”

“Yes, I know.” I lowered my voice and sat on the couch. “I know you don’t know what it means when someone says piece of cake, bottoms up, keep a stiff upper lip, and hang in there too.”

“I believe I do as you have explained them thoroughly.”

“Those are easy, Al. Others aren’t.”

Al looked around and waddled closer, grabbing my fingers. “Bridgett will allow us to go outside.”

My ears set as I dropped my nose. “Why?”

“She said it can be therapeutic, so I requested it. I also requested her to find a few of your friends to come here for the same reason.”
“Al, I don’t have friends. She’ll tell you anything to make this work.”

“You dream of them.”

“Talking in my sleep doesn’t mean anything.” I huffed as he walked through the kitchen, listening to that clack and thump every time his heel hit his back. When a door swung open, I jumped to my feet and ran from the room. Fresh air poured in and rushed through my fur for the first time in months. I dropped to my knees outside, inhaling the scent of fresh cut grass after happily faceplanting the ground.

“Eric?”

I rolled over looking at the night sky. “Yeah?”

“Does this help?”

I chuckled as the sounds of his odd gait came closer. “A little. It isn’t like this where I’m from. It didn’t used to be like that either.”
“What is not the same?”

“There’s nothing green anymore. The sky didn’t look like that when I was younger.” I pointed at the sky and looked at him, snickering at the way he was turning his head. “Go inside and get a mirror.”

I returned my attention outwards and closed my eyes. I knew it would take him a while to find it as slow as he moved. I think I might have fallen asleep again.

“Oi! On yur bloody feet soldier! TEN HUT!” I jumped into a salute and kept my eyes forward as several people marched in behind me. Fur as dark as night came into my peripheral as I held my stance. “You’re still an ugly f**k.”

“Bardist?” I blinked as a tall Doberman grabbed my paw. The laughing behind me erupted as I dropped the salute. Hard slams on my shoulders greeted me with larger smiles. “Bo, Wazer, Kartin? I haven’t seen you guys since boot camp."

Wazer sniffed. He was a large kangaroo with a larger ego. “You wouldn’t have seen us again if it hadn’t been for the pay bump and detail we we’re asked to join. We had a minute to make the choice and less until we were shoved in choppers this morning.”

“You should’ve turned it down. They’ll never let you leave.”

Bardist tipped his ears and I followed his lead, not moving my head as I looked around. “We know. We knew it from the moment they asked.”
“They’ve got snipers on you?!”

“From every angle possible. We’re ducks right now. The only thing they’d tell us was that it involved you and national security. At least until we got here.”

Bo grabbed my shoulder as my lips started curling. “No weapons here. Best we all play nice.” Out of all of us he was ever the diplomat. We all knew the only reason he’d joined was because it was a family expectation. His heart was in politics and saving others through changing the system. Something about honor was always a thing with most capibaras. His opinions about reforms and equality were loud because he was easily angered at what he considered injustice, but on a personal level; he’d always been mute.

Then there was Kartin. He’s one of those people who was born to be a soldier. Nothing but muscle, and he always followed the leader. Most thought he was brainless. Personally, I think he knew the only way he’d get anywhere was to stay quiet, act stupid, and follow orders. He kept to himself most of the time. We knew he’d always had it rough because of his breed. Half Great Dane and Bullmastiff. Bo has an inch on him; tops. Canines can mate with other canines, but if you weren’t purebred, you were labeled a mutt.

I looked around and tried to relax. “Where’s thing one and thing two?”

There was a weight around them and their eyes fell as Wazer spoke. “Barbs got them, Canker. About a year ago. We figured someone would tell you because we couldn’t.” I locked my eyes to the ground heaving. They were a comical powerhouse. No one ever figured out how a camel and a meercat managed to pull off the things they’d get away with. They were never apart, even insisting on being sent to the same detail after boot camp. “Canker?”

I looked back at Wazer and sighed. “I’ll introduce you to Al. But there's some things I need to explain first.”

“Why isn’t he out here?” Bardist asked.

I chuckled. “I sent him in to get a mirror so he could look at the sky. He doesn’t have our range of motion and can’t bend his neck back to look.”

“What?” They all asked.

I shrugged. “He’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Unlike anything you’ve ever seen. Or heard.”

Wazer frowned. “We were debriefed on the way here. How the f**k did you get this detail, Canker? The last I heard Maltese was still busting your a*s like a grunt.”

“I don’t know and if anyone else does they aren’t telling. What gets me is that he doesn’t understand anything. It’s like he’s a three-year-old savant who knows everything except how to be, or live around other people. Can you imagine putting someone like that into the highest parts of society? Or the lowest? I don’t know how to teach him how people are when all he sees is what’s in front of him or defined in a book. Bardist, the fake accent you were using, you can’t do things like that around him, he doesn’t understand it.”

Wazer hummed. “Is he dangerous?”

“Not at all. That’s part of it too. He’s almost helpless. I swear he’s like a little kid.”

Bardist scowled. “Is what they’ve been saying true? They can fix everything?”

“I think so, and so do they. That’s another problem. He’d probably tell them every secret his people have if asked and I know they’re watching us.”

“Eric?”

All our ears perked as we turned to the door. But all I could see was a shadow. “Al?”

“May I come out to see the sky now? I have been patient and do not wish to alarm your friends.”

“Al, have you been listening to us talking?”

“Yes.”

“Al, you shouldn’t do that if you aren’t part of the group that’s talking.”

“Why?”

“It’s not socially acceptable and it’s seen as rude.”

“I will not listen again.”

Wazer leaned closer and lowered his voice. “How does the voice box work?”

“I don’t know. They don’t speak our language. It’s some kind of translator but some words don’t come across.” I rubbed my eyes as my fellow officers watched curiously. “Did you find a mirror, Al?”

“Yes.”

“Bring it out and I’ll show you the sky. Brace yourselves guys.”

Al clopped several times before they were squinting as he stepped in front of the lights in the house. His waddling made it about half way closer before they stepped back with their fur standing on end. He dragged his arms behind him with a small mirror scraping the ground. “What the f**k?” Kartin asked. All eyes turned to him because he rarely asked questions.

I met Al the rest of the way and bent to my knees. “Al, this is Kartin, Wazer, Bardist, and Bo. I haven’t seen them in about eight years.”

“Why?”

“I stayed here because of my family home. They were deployed to other details.”

“What is a detail?”

“A job, a mission, a contract. The military calls them details because that’s as specific as we’re allowed to be. We don’t ask about them, because we can’t tell about them. Let me see your mirror.”

He held it up and I flipped it over pointing at the reflection. “That's the sky at night. The little dots are stars.” I looked up watching the fragmented moon pieces glow in the dark when he grabbed my fingers.

“What are the larger pieces?”

“Those are parts of Evenyo. Our moon. It was split into many pieces when I was young. That’s why it’s so loud now.”

He tilted his head at the pieces. “It was less loud before?”

“Before, if you came out at night, there was one large piece that glowed and you could hear crickets, birds, sometimes frogs. Now all we can hear is the sounds of the pieces when they hit each other and whatever the noise is around them.”

“What happened to it?”

“We killed it, now it’s killing us back.”

“How did you kill it? I thought you were a protector.”

“I didn’t kill it. I wasn’t even involved. No one knows how it happened. I meant people like my species, before me.”

“If no one knows how it happened, how do you know your kind is responsible? How is it killing you when it is so far away?”

“There were scientists digging into the past and they found things they couldn’t explain. About the ones before us. They thought they were the reason we evolved the way we did. They were like…. Gods maybe. Nothing like us. Not even related on the evolutionary scale but somehow responsible for all our species evolving the way we have. There was a lot of excitement because of an ancient technology they created that we discovered. They got quiet after a while and we knew they we researching in most areas the sinkholes appeared. I can’t explain it. We just know they had something to do with it and what killed Evenyo. Breaking the moon is the reason the water is wrong now. When it was whole, it controlled the oceans and the way the water through the world. There are so many pieces of it now that there’s no natural pattern anymore. It’s why there are no more ships that can travel on the seas. When Evenyo was broken it sent tidal waves and tsunami all over the world, but then all the water stopped. Without the oceans moving all the water around through rivers, most of it became stagnant, polluted, and unsafe to drink. It also affected the wind, rain, and the sky. It used to be brighter during the day and at night. We lost the use of many of our machines at the same time. You can look it up if you have more questions. But there aren’t a lot of answers.”

“Oh.”

I stood and looked back at the others, lifting my ears as Bardist stepped closer. He gave me a funny look when Al grabbed my fingers. “Does he always cling to you like that? How old is he?”

“Pretty much. I don’t know how old he is. They don’t keep time like we do. It’s always dark there.”

He almost growled. “They really sent a f*****g kid up here to be the one negotiating life itself?!”

I sighed. “See my dilemma? At most I have another eight months to get him ready for this world. I don’t even know why they asked you to get involved.”

“Said you needed some friends, but there’s more.”

I gave him a sarcastic look and shook my head. “I didn’t figure it was that simple considering we’ve been here four months and Bridgett is the only face we’ve seen.”

Bardist covered his muzzle with a paw and looked around at everyone watching. “How much do you know about the Subters?”

“Not much. The few things he’s told me don’t make a lot of sense. They have a high population and need very little in the way of resources from us. He doesn’t know why I was chosen either. They refused to work with anyone but me.”

“The Subters chose you and our people asked you in?” A nod and he looked around thoughtfully. “Fear. They don’t have a choice. This has to work. You never were good at seeing the position you’re in. If something happens to him, we’re all screwed. On the other paw, we need intel on them. You have the upper paw. We can work with this.” I gave him a funny look and he turned his eyes to Al. “I need to know what he knows and all the things he has in his schedule, and yours. We’ll start doing drills for certain situations so he can get the general idea about how things work.”

“Are you kidding me?! You can’t expect him to do -" I snapped my jaw shut when he dipped his nose. He was the highest ranking of all of us there at General.

“Not military drills. Life drills. Different situations. How to act around certain people and identify if they’re friendly or hostile, honest or deceptive. We’ll pretend to be one thing and let him figure it out through actual circumstances. No consequences other than knowing he made a mistake in judgment. Just like you’d teach a child, but on a much tighter schedule.”

“You can’t scare him. I said helpless. Not defenseless.”

“You said he wasn’t dangerous.”

“He’s not, but the only thing he can do to defend himself will make you wish you were dead and he doesn’t even need to touch you.” He shook his head and I sighed. “It’s the smell. And it causes auditory, physical, and visual hallucinations. I’m not sure if longer exposure time wouldn’t cause permanent damage. He says they use it to keep good health.”

“They? Do they move in groups?”

“He says they’re never alone.”

“How did you find out about the self-defense he has?”

“I asked him to show me. I didn’t wake up for more than eleven hours after he did. He dragged me into the shower to clear me up. There was no intention to harm. I don't think he has it in him.”

“Good to know. He can learn though, right?”

“Yeah, but he has no imagination. You think he’d learn better with a group?” I looked back at the others as they gave it a thought and nodded.
“Some people do better in one. Especially if they’re used to it. What about you, Al? Are you willing to work with us?”

Al looked up at Bardist from the mirror and tilted his head. “Eric is your friend?” Bardist nodded and Al looked up at me. “Do you believe they would be successful?”

“I think they might.” I answered as he curled his fingers tighter around mine.

“If my Paira thinks this would be beneficial I agree.”

“Paira?” Bardist asked.

“It’s hard to explain. Something like a teacher, parent, sibling. Maybe a guardian. But it’s more complicated than that.”
“This thing �" guy, is bonded to you?”

“Something like that. But technically he’s not a guy.”

“I gathered as much in the briefing but?” I shrugged as Al tugged my fingers.

“Eric? May I ask a question?”

“Sure, Al.”

“What is f**k? I have not heard you say this word before and have not found it in any dictionary I have studied.”
My ears pinned back as my fellow officers cupped paws over their mouths. Bardist blinked as I rubbed my eyes. “It’s a bad word, Al.”
“But he is your friend and said you were an ugly f**k. Yet another asks what is the f**k. Does he also not understand the meaning?”
The guys were snickering as Bardist raised a brow in an amused smirk, watching me try to figure out how to handle the situation. “It’s a derogatory term used for mating.”

Al rolled his eyes back and forth in the sockets and tipped his head. “Is the one called Bardist your mate? Why would he mate with you if he believes you are ugly? If it is a term that is well known, why does another ask what it is? I was under the assumption that the young of your species did not do this. If I am considered young, why does he assume I am a f*****g kid? Why use the word if it is offensive? Does he not know I cannot-”
“AL! ...” I mumbled (Wishing I could scream) as the others started laughing behind us. “Al, this is one of those things I can’t explain because it doesn’t make sense.”

“Eric, your temperature has raised two degrees. Does this cause you stress?”

I’m sure my ears were burning as we all noticed the snipers watching us laughing in the background. “No, Al. It’s just hard to explain.”

Bardist smiled and started chuckling as I looked at him, begging for any kind of help. “Kid, we have our work cut out for us.”

“No s**t.” I huffed as Al looked between us.

“There is no s**t here. You explained it was a waste product and removed through the bowl kept in the small room. Also a bad word that shouldn’t be said and was often used in frustration. Are you frustrated?”

“No Al.”

“Why state the obvious if there is no s**t?” I started laughing as Bardist, Bo, Wazer, and Kartin tried to catch their breath.

“He’s an ornery little s**t, isn’t he?” Kartin heaved.

Al tilted his head. “I am not being ornery. I cannot be a little s**t. I am far too large to be eaten whole and was not moved through someone’s digestive system to be defined this way.”

The guys were almost rolling as Bardist wiped tears from his eyes. All I could do was glare at them and shake my head. “See what I mean?” The Doberman caught his breath and sighed. “Let’s go inside and play some cards, Canker. You look like you need to relax.”

I tugged Al’s paw towards the door. “Eric, how can he tell you look like you need to relax? Your appearance has not changed.”

“Because he looks like s**t.” Bo piped in as I looked back at him shaking my head.

Al looked up at me, fighting his own neck as if he was examining my fur. “You do not look like any s**t I have seen.”

Bardist blinked at me and I shook my head. “You don’t want to know. Trying to explain a toilet and how he needed to use it's something I never want to relive.”

They all snickered as Al stopped and squeezed my fingers. “Eric, I do not understand.”

“I know, Al. We’ll work on it. You guys should watch how you’re talking around him.”

“We’re not going to.” I looked at Bardist and he smiled, folding his arms over his chest. “The only way to learn to swim is to jump in. Nobody’s going to drown, but he’ll learn.”

I sneered. “But I’m the one without a life jacket who’ll get thrown overboard with boulders around my ankles.”

The Doberman chuckled as the other officers watched with amusement. “Don’t be so dramatic. You learned to swim and how to trust your troop, didn’t you? Did you die?”

“This is nightmare fuel.”

Bardist threw an arm over my shoulder and lowered his voice. “I know your nightmares. This won’t even come close.”

“Yeah, right.” I looked around and shook my head as they tapped my back. “Give us a minute guys. I need to explain what it’s like being around other people.”

As annoying as it was trying to teach him anything, it was impossible to see him as anything but a child. Bridgett’s impression of him was spot on as far as his personality was concerned. He was a blank slate and as innocent as they came regardless of what he looked like. He had no desire to hurt anyone and didn’t lie even when it would be socially acceptable to say something, or not. Another concept he didn’t understand. But he had some unusual abilities that shocked me. Like being able to locate every device hidden in the house and identify what they were for by they sound they emitted. I’d asked the question I’d thought about with vibrations and it led us into all the noises the house made, along with a few adventures of investigation where I made a fist so he could point out a certain device without anyone noticing we’d spotted it. It didn’t work for the hidden cameras. Probably not the mics but we had nothing better to do. Some of the noises he could make were indeed below the scale of the machines we used, and he could send and receive messages from his wren. I couldn’t work out how that was possible because I had no way of calculating distance, but it was a fruitless effort because it was made clear he was only allowed to contact them if there was a failure. He could hear if they sent a message and respond when requested. Right now, I need him to listen more than anything else I’ve tried to teach him.

The others headed closer to the house and I folded my knees in front of Al. “Can you tell if there are recording devices around us right now?”

His ears lifted and his head rolled back and forth. “None within range that would detect speech clearly.”

“Good.” At least this was a small relief, but the few areas in the house I’m concerned with are the problem. “Al, I need you to listen to me carefully and keep this quiet. You ask as many questions as you’d like about how to act or what to say. But I want you to watch my tail or my fingers. If I squeeze your fingers, make a fist, or move my tail down, I need you not to say anything and listen. These people are not my friends.”

His head tilted as I looked back and smiled; waving as they waited by the door. “But you dream of them.”

“Sometimes, but I have nightmares about them too. I know they seem friendly but not everything or everyone here is what it seems. Just trust me. If for any reason I seem alarmed; I need you to stay behind me and out of the way. Be friendly because they will be. That doesn’t mean you should trust them or tell them anything we’ve talked about before. Especially not about where you came from except what I tell them, or anything specific about what we’ve been doing here. Understand?”

His cheeks puffed out in those odd circles beside his mouth. “I do not understand your people.”

“I’ll tell you a why I dream of them. Boot camp is never an easy thing, but Bardist and those guys over there tied rocks to my feet and threw me in a lake. That was his way of teaching me to swim and get me to trust them for saving me. He figured out I had a fear of suffocation and thought it would help with a few problems I had. It didn’t.”

“That does not make sense. Suffocation by any means is a rational fear. Would it not end your life if they failed?”

“Yes, that’s my point. They thought it was a good thing. I never will.”

“Why would they think this would build trust?”

“Bardist. He was the squad leader. It was his idea, the others just followed orders. That’s how it works in the military. I don’t have any idea why he thought it was a good idea. I may have learned to swim but trust is another thing.”

“This is why you dream of them and call their names before the nightmares? This is what his comment referred to?”

“Yes. It’s a little hard to scream under water. We need to be alert.”

“I will remember your words and comply. Ears at the ready.”

“Did you just think of that on your own?”

“Is it not appropriate?”

I had to chuckle. It was an expression he made up himself and the first time he’d said anything personable. “It really is. Might be a good catch phrase for you since not many people are going to understand how you hear and that you can hear everything. Hopefully it’ll be fine and I’m being paranoid.” When he tilted his head looking at me, I sighed.

“Eric, you have smel-

“Yeah, don’t bring that up either. We need to talk to Bridgett, but we can’t do that while they’re here. Let’s go in and be friendly. Just keep a guard up.”

“Ears at the ready?”

I chuckled as I stood and let him grab my fingers. “You figured one out without me having to explain it. Nice.”