By my calculations, I’d been exploring the island for a little over two weeks on the night of the caretakers’ party. I don’t know why, perhaps it was the post-party letdown, the awareness of the return to mundanity on the island, but the next day, I began to feel real anxiety about getting off that island, and the planet. In between my studies and my explorations, I had done some of the necessary repairs on my ship. However, without a fuel supply, I was stuck. It was time to get creative.
I had explored most of the island, but not all of it. There was one section I’d been avoiding. Every morning, I watched and followed as a pair of caretakers traversed the rocky cliff faces; however, there was always a point where I could not go forward. With their small, lithe bodies, it was no problem for them to make the leap as they jumped from one cliff over the deep chasm to the next. For two weeks, I’d avoided following suit. But this morning, I finally felt the courage to attempt the jump myself. Did I truly think I’d find an abandoned supply of fuel waiting for me on the other side? Probably not. But I was desperate.
The jump was exhilarating, to say the least, and I’d prefer not to dwell on the few moments that I saw my life flash before my eyes, my feet slipping, barely getting enough traction to keep me afoot. Suffice it to say, once I’d found my balance, the only way was forward.
I tried desperately to keep up with my lanai guides, who were as stoic as ever, showing no sign that we had spent the night before together in unprecedented revelry. They were clearly on a mission, walking determinedly across more rocky cliff faces without pause or detour. We rounded another cliff and it immediately became obvious to me that we had reached our destination.
Surprise feels an understatement for what I felt in that moment. I had explored nearly every inch of this island and yet, somehow, this was my first time encountering the gargantuan creatures sunning themselves on the rocks.
I quickly recovered from my state of shock and reached for my pad and pencil set. All thoughts of fuel reserves completely lost from my mind, I began to take detailed sketches and observations of the pair of creatures before me.
It seems crude to begin with the udders, but that seemed also the destination of my guides, so it was where my attention was first drawn. Four large teats adorned four swollen udders on each of the creatures. The creatures were prone, so their udders were exposed. I watched in awe as the caretakers approached the first creature, began pulling out bottles, and unceremoniously pumped a liquid from the udder. It was green and frothy and, when one of the lanai offered me a bottle, I could not resist. The liquid smelled sweet and tasted fatty and rich. I understood why they worked so hard to retrieve this milk and tried not to wonder too long at how they first determined how to obtain it.
The caretakers were efficient, as always, and had filled their bottles and packed up before I’d even begun my first sketch. They returned the way they came and, rather than follow, I decided to take my chances and spend some more time observing these indescribable creatures.
But describe them, I shall try.
These were clearly creatures of mammalian origin, given their obvious and prominent udders, which are a sign of mammary glands. Their skin was leathery and grey, and covered in barnacles and snails and other invertebrates of their presumably marine habitat. Many of the shells resembled the “thala” gastropods I’d studied in my marine ecology course in Hanna University. Coupled with the way they lay sunning on the rocks, reminding me of the “sirens” from old spacer legends, I decided to call these creatures the thala-sirens.
Their heads seemed small in comparison to their robust bodies. They had an elongated skull, terminating with a loose, floppy snout, from which they would occasionally shoot bursts of ocean steam. Their large eyes were adorned with a nictitating membrane, a clear eyelid that can protect their pupils from ocean debris and aid in seeing underwater. This, along with their flippers on all appendages, confirmed my theory that, despite my current specimens’ location, these creatures primarily make their habitat in the sea.
I wondered about their diet, given their unique snout and marine lifestyle. It seems fair to assume that these creatures are herbivores, using their snout to collect grasses off of the seabed below. Perhaps they also could suck up small, marine invertebrates, such as the ones found stuck to their skin. Given that the thala-sirens treated the lanai and me with no fear suggests a lack of predators on the island. Whether there is a bigger fish for them to fear down below remains a mystery to me.
I had just finished up my second sketch when I was completely startled by the sudden movement from the nearer of the two thala-sirens. In one swift and surprisingly graceful movement, it lifted its back off of the rocks and slid right down into the water below. The second thala-siren followed and, worried that I’d lose my only study specimens of this truly note-worthy species, I shoved my sketchbook into my satchel and, in what can only be described as a fit of insane spontaneity, I jumped into the water after them.
Now, while Ithorians are well known as a terrestrial species, I am no stranger to the water. I had often made an effort to visit the pool at Hanna University in order to prepare myself to someday, hopefully, get up close and personal with marine creatures. Now, on this island, with these never-before-described (to my knowledge) mammals, those laps in the pool paid off.
The thala-sirens were completely different creatures under the water. On land they were large and awkward, but in the sea, they seemed to move naturally with the flow of the water, flapping their flippers in a graceful dance. The two thala-sirens I had been following dove deeper and deeper into the blue ocean. I treaded water for some time, feeling grateful for the calm weather of the day. I was about to give up hope of seeing my subjects again, when they surfaced once more, this time in the company of two more adult thala-sirens and – my heart did a flip – a much smaller thala-sirette!
The thala-sirette swam close to a second, adult thala-siren. The adult displayed an udder as well, clearly another female and presumably, the young one’s mother, ready to feed her young at any time. I watched transfixed as mother and child swam in unison, side by side, through the waves, around me and the other thala-sirens.
As I swam with these other worldly creatures, every thought of leaving the island abandoned on the shore, I was suddenly and jarringly brought back to the reality of my situation. Down below the surface of the water, resting serenely on the ocean floor, the thala-sirens swam around and through and over and under an…….x-wing starfighter?? Amazing that the thala-siren wasn’t actually the most surprising discovery of the day!
I needed a fuel supply for my ship. Here, directly below me, was a fully intact star-fighter. Had these unbelievable, indescribable creatures guided me directly to the answer to my prayers? Would I find a usable fuel supply in this abandoned ship? There was only one way to find out for sure.
I have compiled my notes on the thala-siren species and my field guide entry can be found here.
(Vyrdaw’s posts are translated by Danny, with sketches by Zan Morris).
porgology 