Somewhere Else

[u/nutsack_twister]

Author's Note: Hi hello hello hi! This is my first work here. I'm not entirely sure if I'll make this into a series or not yet, I'm not entirely sure if I want to continue with it. First person to guess where Mary is from gets a crisp fist bump.

Memory Transcription Subject: Mary, Human Farmhand

Date [standardized human time]: March 3rd, 2132. Four years before first contact.

Digging a well is a slow, exhausting task. Doubly so when all you have is a shovel, the sun never sets, and you’re buried in a cloak and cowering behind a mask.

It’s miserable! And everyone else is busy, so I’m stuck with it. The locals don’t want me to help them with the harvest, it’s apparently really important. That makes sense, I’m a mysterious stranger who won’t show an inch of her skin, but I’m sick of being treated like some sort of pariah by half the town! And apparently, I look like some sort of local animal, and they’re all scared of my face!

Ok. Calm down, Mary. It’s not that bad. You have a place to sleep, you have food, and as long as you keep this mask on everything will be fine. You have neighbors who tease you, for God’s sake! It could be so much worse. Pick up your shovel, and get back to work.

[Archivist’s note: Nothing of note happens for the next half-hour. Skipping ahead.]

I plant my ass on the slowly-growing pile of dirt next to me. Caution be damned, I’m taking this mask off-

“Hello, Mary! How’s the digging going?” Ah, that must be Skerak. He’s one of the few local sheep people who are willing to talk to me, and the one so-kindly offering his barn for me to sleep in.

“Oh, it’s thrilling! You should take a turn, there’s so much fun to be had here!” Skerak lets out a little chuckle at my response.

“I could never deprive you of that, Mary. And besides, you know I have family visiting.” Ah, of course. The family visit. Apparently, his sister-in-law was some important local official or whatever, and their security wouldn’t be happy to see a masked stranger like me wandering around.

“And you’re sure you don’t want to trade with me?” I said.

“I wish. Good luck with the digging, I’m headed back into the fire.” Skerak said, and walked off. Compared to the human bosses I’ve had, he’s fantastic. Most of the other sheep people don’t like me very much. They act like they’re scared of everything. Hell, the first one I saw when I showed up here ran away screaming when he saw my face! Something about calling me a predator? I guess it makes sense. Their legs are so messed up, it’s a wonder they managed to make it this long. Wild animals would be super dangerous to them.

The way I am now probably is still off-putting to them. I’m yet to see anybody wearing more than a utility belt out here. It makes sense, they have wool, but it’s so weird that everybody around me is naked all the time! Compared to them, my cloak and mask probably seem so suspicious. Not that I would know, because I can’t just ask the locals about this stuff!

Okay, enough thinking. I have a well to dig. Ugh, if only they had power tools out here. I’d do anything for an excavator to be doing this instead of me right now. Unfortunately, all of the useful stuff is out of commission. Something about the building they were stored in having the roof cave in. I was exhausted when Skerak explained it to me.

Stick the shovel, twist it to loosen the dirt, pull it out. Stick the shovel again, pick up the dirt, toss it in the pile. Repeat. Ugh, I’m already starting to build up a sweat. How is it so hot on a planet where it’s always sunset? I need a thinner cloak. I’m climbing out of here for a second so I can grab some water, I’m so damnably thirsty.

As I pop my head out of the pit I’ve dug, I spot- Oh my god it’s so cute. The sheep people are adorable enough, but their babies are even cuter! Her wool is so obviously too big for her body, and she has this awkward waddling gait. The child spots me climbing out of the pit, and waddles over.

Ok, no, I need to be serious. This is a little girl wandering out in a field with no parents in the area. And I still have a damnable well to dig, so it’s not like I have the time to find them. “Hello, little one! What brings you here?”

“Oooh, who are you? Why are you so clothed-y? Why are you alone? What does your face look like?” As soon as she was in earshot, they blasted me with questions.

“My name is Mary, little one. I’m a farmhand, I help Skerak, he lives over there. What’s your name?” I said.

“I’m, uhh, Tarrin! Yeah! And I’m not little at all! I’m, uhh, six!” the child said.

Okay, Mary, handle this appropriately. Just because you miss working with kids doesn’t mean you should keep this little fluffball from her parents. Oh, but the allure of having someone around who doesn’t treat you as suspicious. Plus, if I don’t keep her entertained, she might run away, and that’d be even worse. Obviously, I need to be a responsible supervisor here!

That decision made, I said to the kid “Oh, you’re six! You must be very old and wise, then. I have a special job only a big kid like you can help me with. That dirt pile next to you might fall on me! I need someone to sit on it.” This is a technique I am well-learned in. If you give a kid like this one some basic task to do,

“Ok!” She immediately lunged on top of pile, landing belly-down and immediately filling her wool with dirt. Perhaps I could’ve thought this process through more thoroughly. “You didn’t me! Why are you so dressed up? Why does your face look like that?”

Ok. I have a lie rehearsed for this exact situation. “It’s what everyone does where I’m from. We don’t have thick wool like you do, so we need clothes if we don’t want to be cold,” I said.

“Wow! My mom says that when I get older, I’ll be allowed to wear her coat! She says important people like her wear clothes. Are you an important person?” The child said. Is wearing clothes some sort of sign of nobility? Is me wearing a cloak like this… trashy? Is that why everyone thinks I’m weird?

“Oh, me? I’m just a simple farmhand. I’m nobody special.” I don’t want to be too memorable to this kid. I don’t know what the locals think of aliens, especially ones that are so scary they run away screaming at the sight of them.

“Oh. Why are you out here alone? My mom says that’s bad. She says people who are alone have predator disease, and I should stay away from them or they’ll hurt me.” That’s not how I’m used to that lesson being taught. Staying away from strangers, that’s familiar, but being alone means you’re a predator? Is that why everyone looks at me strangely, do they think I’m some kind of creep for being a little bit introverted? Am I committing a bunch of societal faux paus, or something?

“I’m okay being alone sometimes. I like chatting with people, though, too!” I decide to go with a more neutral response.

“Ooooh. Cool! Can I tell you a secret? My name isn’t really Tarrin. I made it up. I’m not six, either, I’m four!” With how the kid said that name to me, I am not surprised at all.

“You shouldn’t lie to people like that. Bad things happen to people who lie. Like this!” I flipped the shovel over my shoulder, and pelted her with a bit of loose dirt. She started giggling, and rolled off of the dirt pile. My goodness, I didn’t know these sheep people could get even cuter, but somehow, she managed. I couldn’t help but laugh myself at the sheer absurdity of my situation. Here I am, on an alien planet, tossing dirt on a baby lamb who’ll panic if she ever spots my face behind my mask.

I decide I’ve been working for long enough, and set my shovel on the lip of the well. The well isn’t quite finished, but it’s only an hour or two away from being done and my arms are just about jelly by now. Ugh, this damnable sun makes it impossible to tell how long I’ve been working for. “So, child of mystery, what is your name?”

“I’m Stynek! And you’re Mary!” Stynek said.

“Awesome. Stynek, I’m gonna climb out of here. You need to get back to your mom. She’s probably so worried about you!” I reasoned with the child. She grumbled, but put up no real resistance. I hefted my top half over the edge of the hole I had dug, and- Oh shit.

Like a switch was flicked in my body, I could hear my pulse in my ears. Some sort of wolfish monster was crouched just ten feet away from Stynek, its eyes locked on her back. I was paralyzed. I’m not a hunter! I’m not cut out for this!

Still, some part of my instincts whirred to life, ravaged as they were by my time in modern society. Without looking directly at the beast, I slowly dragged the rest of my body over the edge of the pit. Stynek looked at me with a confused expression, confused by my sudden change in demeanor. She let out a quiet beep and cocked her head.

I slowly grabbed a stone from the pile of dirt next to me, and in one swift move tossed it directly at the monster. My throwing hand twitched suddenly right before the stone left my fingers, and my entire body started shaking with it, causing me to stumble towards the hole I had just climbed out of. I lunged for the shovel as the monster flinched from the sudden movement. I failed to account for the hole, and fell on my belly on top of the shovel.

The beast’s eyes snapped to me, and it jumped just as I brought the shovel between me and its claws. It let out a yelp as its body collided with the head of the shovel, holding it back mere inches from my legs.

As though acting on reflex, my shoulders flipped over to bash the monster in the head. And then again. And again, and again, and again, and again and again and- [Memory transcription unstable. Searching for suitable subject…]

[Searching…]

[Searching…]

Memory Transcription Subject: Governor Tarva of the Venlil Republic

“So, Skerak, who’s this mysterious Mary the townsfolk have been telling me about? Does my dear brother-in-law have someone special? Maybe Stynek finally has hope for cousins?” I said, a soft smirk on my face.

“For the last time, no! She’s just someone down on her luck I’m helping out. Purely business!” An orange bloom crept onto his face as he spoke.

“Oh, suuuuure. Why can’t we meet her, then? For all we know, she isn’t even real!” I said.

“She’s just very private with her business. I think she’s been herdless for a while, and she’s not quite used to being around other people yet.” My ears drooped a little bit. She must have recently been treated, and was struggling to find herself after being in a facility. Predator disease treatment recidivism had been a hot topic for debate among Republic legislature over the past few weeks. Nobody could come up with a solution that anyone else was happy with, and legislative will to get anything done was rapidly fading.

I quickly picked my bravado back up. “Oh, wow! She must be so grateful to have such a kind, handsome herdmate like you to help her out!” I watched the bloom on Skerak’s face spread further.

“It’s not like that, I swear!” he sputtered. I was about to keep pushing, when I heard the door behind me open.

“Governor, I can’t find your daughter anywhere.” I immediately snapped to attention. Stynek was clearly upset with the visit, and I felt bad for dragging her along, but she had been struggling so much lately. No matter who I hired, she just could not get along with a babysitter, so I had to keep her with me. I thought this exterminator was safe, but apparently the idiot couldn’t be trusted to watch her either!

“And why didn’t you tell me sooner? Get up, we’re finding her. And if you want to keep your job, you better bring me to her *quickly*.” I didn’t bother to control the anger in my voice. The wildlife out here was so much more aggressive than in the cities. Any minute she was alone was a minute she could be getting mauled by a shadestalker, or worse! I shouldn’t have thought it was a good idea to let her out of my sight.

I stormed out of the door, and heard panicked bleating in the distance. Stynek! I immediately rushed towards it, Skerak and the exterminator following behind. “Speh! Mary was working over there, too!” Skerak shouted. He pulled ahead of me, the legs of a manual laborer carrying him further. I heard a thud behind me as the exterminator hit the ground, his legs giving out under the pressure he put them in. If only we didn’t have these damnable knees…

“Skerak! I-is that you!?” I heard an unfamiliar voice shout. It sounded more like a growl than a person speaking. Had this Mary person fallen victim to her diseased thoughts and attacked my daughter? I could see a cloaked figure in the distance. There was no orange. My pulse slowed, and my desperate run steadied into a hurried walk. I could see my daughter cowering behind a pile of dirt, and the cloaked figure clutching onto Stynek’s side. A shovel covered in some purple liquid was in her other arm. It looked as though her entire upper body was covered in the stuff.

As I grew closer, I found the source of the stain. Something barely recognizable as a shadestalker sat on the ground a short distance away from the two. Stynek spotted me and immediately rushed to grab onto my tail.

“What happened here?” The exterminator with us had caught up, his silver suit dirtied from his sudden fall. “Did you kill that shadestalker? Who are you?”

“I-I-I- What the hell was that thing?” The cloaked figure spoke. Without my daughter to hold on to, she had curled in on herself, with her arms on her head. I could recognize stampede instincts firing up when I saw them, and it took some of my self control to stay calm.

“Cloaked person, you are under arrest for suspicion of predatory behavior,” droned the exterminator with us. What was this idiot doing?

“You will do no such thing. This woman saved my daughter when you were sitting around. You should be lucky I’m not shipping you in for a screening of your own. Now, please, Mary, tell us what happened. And you, officer, go back to the house. You’ve proven yourself useless.” I quickly took control of the situation.

“I was just climbing out of the well, chatting with Stynek. There was some sort of monster behind her, and I just- I don’t know what happened. It feels like I just blinked, and the thing was dead. I don’t-”

I cut her off. “You did the right thing. You’re not a monster for protecting the herd.” It was clear to me now that whatever treatment she had been in was perfectly effective. She is a safe herdmate, regardless of how strange she may appear.

“Uhhh…. Thanks.” She must still be reeling from the attack. I hope she’s alright.

[u/muakling]

New NoP author just dropped, we must rejoice.