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Chapter Text

The Star Beagle Adventures                                                
Episode 8: South Side of the Sky
Scene 12: Snowstorm

8.12
Snowstorm

“I am very sorry, Captain Ronald Howard, XIV, but you need to leave today. You really need to leave now.”

Vispir Druiliad Zeriand was nothing short of astounded that she actually cared. Or that she really was sorry. She was as pure purple as anyone could ask, giving her a much elevated status in a society where color really mattered. Her fur registered at 738.5 Terahertz (THz), making her the perfect purple. It was a color that occurred in 1 among every 15,000 purples. Any person whose fur registered below 688 THz or above 789 THz (effectively black) was not purple and was not allowed to remain in the City for more than four days. 

Blues were relegated to various villages throughout the mountains. Other colors rarely survived a few days as the mutations that made their fur fall out of the blue range tended to accompany other, very debilitating mutations.

“I thought we were allowed four days in the City, Vispir,” Howard replied. “We’ve barely been here for two.”

“Captain, you require four days to journey to Gateway pass,” Zeriand responded. “A storm is coming and if you are not under shelter when it arrives, you will not survive. If you leave now, your party should be able to reach Gateway village before the snowstorm. And your hosts need as much time to return to their home.”

“And our patient?” Howard asked. 

The male alien had died moments before they had arrived. Howard and Zeriand had learned much about their anatomy by conducting an autopsy. The much larger female remained comatose and had been laid out on a bio-bed that included a vast array of diagnostic equipment, which, while not as advanced as federation medical facilities, provided far more detail than had been available in the home of the giants.

“She will die within the next several days. I will report her death on the fourth day so that if she lingers, she will not be cast out into the snow. I am going so far beyond my authority…”

“Is there no chance we could save her?” Captain Howard already knew the answer.

The color of Druiliad Zeriand’s eyes mirrored the color of her fur. Her face and hands were black. She placed a hand on Howard’s shoulder, led him to a chair. Sat down next to him. “Captain, it takes years to train and test a Vispir. You have the knowledge. More knowledge than I. As much as you have learned about this alien, I have learned so much more from you. But being a Vispir is as much skill as knowledge and even if I could train you in the techniques of operation, you would not learn those skills in time to be able to try to operate on our patient. And she would not survive any operation at this point. All that is left for her in her current state is death. We both value the concept of death with dignity.” Zeriand squeezed Howard’s shoulder. “The time has come to save your own life, the lives of your people. And the lives of the frost giants who brought you to this place.”

Howard looked down for a few moments. Then looked up into Zeriand’s eyes. “I wish I could spend more time with you, Vispir. I really have learned so much in two short days. I was told that the purple were unlikely to help, but you have done everything you could within the laws of your people. I will never forget it. I hope to meet you again, someday.”

Zeriand stood up with Howard. “The civic guard will escort you to the northern gate, Captain. I must stay here with our patient. I will be here until the end. Two days ago, I could not have imagined doing this for an alien. But you would do it without hesitation.” She rolled her head back and forth in a gesture that wasn’t immediately clear to Howard. “Be safe, Captain Ronald Howard, XIV.”

“Farewell, Vispir Druiliad Zeriand,” Howard replied.

As Captain Howard, 2nd Lt. Emily Li, and Ensign Tos th’Tabriit were escorted through the covered corridors and sidewalks of the City, they were joined by 2nd Lt. Iov Pushkin, who had been escorting the denobulan planetologist, Cetris Rye, around the City. They met the frost giants at the northern gate, where the giants had decided to wait.

Howard addressed the chief sentry of the civic guard who were escorting his party. “Can you tell me why the City has the four-day rule?”

“Purples are not to mingle with blues,” the sentry replied.

“And the giants?” Howard asked.

“They are our food. We are theirs,” the sentry replied, shortly. “They come here to bring us their dead and to collect ours. Do you spend time talking to your food?”

Both the sentry and Captain Howard fell silent until they were at the gates. Just before they exited, the sentry spoke again. “You may spend another two days here if you wish to return. We will have many stories to tell about you. You are very strange people.”

During their two days in the City, Sgt. Tammy Glick had spent most of her time with the giants, learning their gestural language.

After a day of travel, the party was joined by the guides who had accompanied Lt. Cmdr. zh’Kathar’s party back to Gateway Pass, Big Thoma and Little Thoma. Grazwella and the other four giants stopped the party at an intersection at which a smaller trail split off toward the east. She engaged Sgt. Glick in a conversation by sign language.

“Here we part ways,” Sgt. Glick translated. “The storm approaches quickly. If it comes upon you before you can find shelter, dig in as deep as you can and try to ride it out. The weather is warming, which means that storms this time of year tend to last 3-5 days.”

Big Thoma landed a giant hand on his son’s shoulder and gave him instructions. He turned to Howard and started signing. Again, Sgt. Glick translated. “I will accompany you as far as Jellear House. We should be able to get there ahead of the worst of the storm. You may have to wait the storm out there. Even if you could get back to your spacecraft on the other side of Gateway Pass, you will not be able to fly out through the storm. Jellear House might be a better place to wait.”

8.12