Bestial Planet

Chapter 19: Discomfort Zones

The next day I noticed something strange was starting to happen. My intent was to take it easy, have a cat-day and just hangout in front of Section 6 watching the water. I wasn't sure what my "alone time" was like before but this felt familiar. Early in the morning however, someone came up to me and asked a question.

"Are we still the same species?"

I'd thought about that for a while before - when I didn't have a translator. Catty had brought up once that I was an engineer, for things, not people but I'd come to something I felt was a comfortable answer, so I told him.

"I think we're still biologically compatible. But in the old sense of the word we are different species. Seeing as how we all can reason and have regained our mental faculties the only thing different about the human race now..." I looked at him to see if I'd lost him amidst my rambling but he was following me so I continued. "... is that we have abilities that I think are indicative of our personalities. We were always animals but now the outside matches the inside."

He stood there for a moment trying to see if he could agree with what I said, then spoke, "You've thought about this before haven't you?"

I chuckled before answering. "Since I woke up months before everyone else I had a lot of time to think about a lot of stuff. My friends say that's how I was before though - so that's comforting."

He nodded, rose a fore-limb in thanks then walked away into the forest and I went back to watching the water. By lunch time I'd noticed a small crowd of 20 or so had gathered nearby, the guy from before was with them. Three walked over cautiously.

"We don't want to bother you but would you mind talking with us?"

It was a large crowd but I didn't want to be anti-social since we were, you know, trying to restart civilization. I said "Yeah, sure." and before I knew it dozens more people were showing up and asking questions about how to adjust.

"Do we all have to hunt? Or should there be different hunting parties every day?"

"Should we even bother with fruits and vegetables if we're a 'predator' animal now?"

"What do we do about our own friends and family?"

"Why should we try to build a new society?"

For some reason I enjoyed trying to think of and rationalize answers for people but at the same time I wasn't comfortable with the growing mass of people at Section 6. The sun had passed it's zenith before I looked up from the group directly in front of me. When I saw the sea of people crowding. I felt sick. Everyone was looking at me with questions in their eyes but there was something else. I tried to imagine how the scene looked from up above, something that helps me when I feel like I can't breathe. The scene in my mind didn't look right. I looked around at everyone again and noticed something else in their gazes. There weren't that many other conversations going on like earlier. Every word I spoke - they seemed to hang on to each syllable as if I was some sort of leader.

My mind went blank mid-sentence. My translator crackled, trying to make audible sense of the blank chaos. The Horse and Wolf who'd just asked me if they could have a relationship were staring at me, anticipating my next word.

"Too many. There's too many people."

"What's wrong Mannie?"

"I need... away. I need to get away."

I recoiled against the ship and my fur went rigid. I noticed the sun glinting off of it, gleaming in Horse's eye as she looked at me with concern. My breath quickened as my eyes darted back and forth over the crowd. They all melted into a mass. I couldn't distinguish one person from another. It was too much. My ears felt hot and it seemed as if someone turned down the volume on an old television till that annoying 15,750Hz frequency was louder than the voices.