Poetry Prose Fiction SciFi Fantasy Short Story
Los Angeles - New York - Writer

The first settlers of TR98 named the creatures. Three years into the building of the settlement, commander MS-I heard screeching, which sounded like the words, “Chee Nuck Nuck.” The screeches echoed across the southern ice fields and were followed by an occasional explosion. The commander, an ambitious woman who unexpectedly requested assignment to planet TR98 after her husband committed suicide, flew her land scutter across the ice to investigate. Apparently, as she topped a ridge, a fireball burst through the land scutters hull and she crashed. When the rescue crew arrived, the onboard computer showed MS-I survived. However, she was never found. At this point the Chee Nuck Nucks still not been officially discovered or named.

Seven years later, the sounds of screeching and explosions returned. The new commander, MS-II, her adopted protégé MRV7 and a squad of armed guards investigated.

They located the origin of the sounds and proceeded cautiously. They raised a holo-periscope over an ice ridge. It projected a hologram before them. Bird like creatures, seemingly grown from charred wood and approximately eight feet tall from beak to talon, clustered around an ice tree. Its long branches drooped nearly to the ground. At the end of the branches, bright orange berries hung. The birds seemed joyous and were nudging a human, closer to one of the berries. They were screeching “Chee. Chee.” The shoulders of the humans clothing sprouted bark like feathers in a fashion that suggested the creatures’ plumage. The squad medic ran a bio scan. “It is commander MS-I.”

MS-II, MRV7 and guards scrambled over the ridge. The squad crawled through the snow toward the creatures. The protégé started to follow, but MS-II put her hand on his shoulder and said, “Wait.”

“But she’s alive.”

“It may not be her.”

The protégé stopped and struggled to contain the rush of emotions. MS-I was his birth mother. He waited as the guards inched closer. The creatures nudged the human toward the tree. She seemed eager but afraid. A larger creature hopped forward and silenced the rest with a loud “Chee!” The creature swallowed an ice berry and it’s head burst into flame. Through the flame you could see the shadow of its skull. The other birds chirped, “Nip! Nip!” and the burning creature dunked its head into an ice hole full of water. A violent shiver ran through the creatures’ entire body. The creature pulled its head out of the hole and spit out the pit of the berry. From all visible evidence the creature was unharmed, if slightly more charred. All the other bird-creatures flapped their wood like wings and made a ruckus of general approval. Another creature picked up a bark feather with its beak and stuck it firmly into to the plumage of the humans shoulder. She winced but seemed thankful. Again, they started clucking, “Chee, chee” and nudged the human toward a berry. A smaller creature, which seemed annoyed with the human, clucked out “Chee-Chee.” A gasp went through the flock. The smaller bird ate two berries. Its head and body exploded. The head of the bird rocketed past the squad and melted a hole through four feet of ice. The guards leapt to their feet and rushed in. The creatures, which had started pecking bits of the exploded bird, stopped and looked toward the guards. The guards opened fire and plasma bolts hit several creatures, but were absorbed into their wood like feathers.

“Stop.” MS-I said flatly with a voice that sounded dormant for many years. The creatures made a barrier around her. The squad stopped firing. Their weapons were useless. MS-I stepped in front of the creatures. “You have no right to interfere.”

MS-II and the protégé approached.

“MS-I?” MS-II asked.

MS-I, looked to the source of the voice. No recognition of the world she once knew betrayed her face. She said with a hollow, forceful voice, “That being died a useless ambition.”

“Malya.” The protégé said. That was the informal word for mother in the settlers’ world. His voice stirred a memory in MS-I. Anguish like a sour taste contorted her lips as she let slip the informal word for son, “Asin.” She regained her detached composure.

“MRV7.” She said. “Do not waste your life with Earths ambitions. Come.” She smiled a weak, suspicious grin. Her lips and checks were scabbed and scared. MRV7 took a step back. She was Mayla in voice, but this woman was a shell of the woman that once raised him. “I see you do not understand. If you could see what I have seen. Live what I have lived. Know…” She turned and walked toward the ice tree.

“MS-I.” He called after her.

“This ritual is my honor. Once passed, I will be charred like them. It is in the burning that they live the most. It is in the quest of the ice tree fruit that they find meaning. They live centuries. Questing. Discovering. Burning. Becoming light. Being reformed in another place. Another time. Returning again. It is infinite. A circle through time. As light, we become.” She paused to find the words. “It is a beauty through fire, I cannot explain.” She smiled at a memory as a black tear leaked from her eye. “This is my rite. I’ve earned these broken wings.”

For the first time, MRV7 realized MS-I had not used her arms. They hung limply at her side. Broken.

“Mayla. Let us heal you.”

MS-I smiled. “I am healed.” She plucked a berry with her teeth and swallowed it. She burst into flame. Her face became a rapturous joy or horror depending on the re-telling. The creatures clucked “Nuck, Nuck.” She leapt into the air, her body full of flame stretched into a band of light and winked out of existence. The creatures screeched, “Nuck! Nuck!” and each in turn disappeared the same.

The humans were stunned silent.

They returned to the settlement and reported the story to the Earth counsel who immediately outlawed ice tree fruit. As is typical, thrill seekers and those seeking to escape the traumas of their life continually break the law. Most do not survive. Although, some attain light.

However, MRV7 survived the scarring of the incident by the patience and kindness of MS-II. When he would ask, “Am I destined the same?”

She would explain, “A persons life is not pre-determined by their bloodline. You own your own life. Live it.”

Ultimately he became his own person and attained a command of his own.

As for MS-I, every seven years to the day, when the ice tree blooms, she and the Chee Nuck Nucks return from nowhere to the southern ice field of Settlement TR98. Predictably, her life among the creatures transformed her completely. She is no longer distinguishable among the flock.