FCF - The Carnivorous Plant

Meeting

This chapter is the first translation from Czech to English. You are welcome to rewrite it, if you make it better, I will send you 10 000 Gift Points.

Please note that I'm trying to write simplest way possible. The story is moved forwards mostly just by using various events.

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The earthlings suddenly hear a suspicious rustling and human voices. Sammy and Jerry give an instinctive instruction to the android to hold back. During the desperately long seconds the unknown voices are approaching them.
The earthlings are quite nervous. Apparently they didn’t expect any company. The only possible explanation is that the dead planet was inhabited by the Space pirates and they use it for the trans-shipment of goods.
The endless seconds during which the earthlings are pointing with their pulse guns towards the directions where the suspect noises are coming from, are at the end. Two small, red aliens about one metre tall, dressed in primitive tunics and trousers made ​​of animal skin, comes out of the carnivorous jungle. They are carrying bags and a few primitive weapons. They are Jaffa and Neme, who decided to follow the smoke trail.
Both groups are now staring at each other dumbfounded.
Jerry decides quickly and speaks to his colleagues through the silent communicator that every earthling has implanted into their brain from birth. It is one of the few technological implants that are legally available to Earth.
"How come humanoids are here?"
"Pirates don’t dress like that. Maybe a group of hippies who decided to live in forests?" Sammy thinks.
"I wouldn’t say so, look at their weird, scaly heads and they are so small. We don’t know anything like this."
Inhabitants of Planet Zebra look really weird.
"Exactly, it’s like their ancestors were bored and masturbated in a lake."
Jerry and Sammy bursting out laughing, but they are trying to control themselves.
Aliens are now even more surprised. Neme takes bow and arrow off his shoulder.
"What are you doing, Neme?" His colleague turns to him.
"Can’t you see that they are pointing sticks towards us and laugh?"
"They aren’t animals, are they?"
"Look at the clothes! They are black and white like tree trunks, what if the trees became fully alive!"
The aliens’ concern grows and they are both preparing to guard themselves.
"Can you translate it, John?" Sammy asks about their conversation.
"Unknown language. I could use a universal interpreter, but to do so I need more information."
Jerry decides quickly. He makes a few steps toward them and throws his weapon down.
"What the f*** are you doing? Do you want to retreat?"
"We have no masks. If they are locals and see us like this, they must be scared. Dropping weapons means a peaceful gesture, understandable in all cultures."
Jerry tries to look confident, but friendly. About three metres in front of them he stops and moves his head towards his empty palms.
Jaffa looks around and puts his weapon on the ground. Neme cannot believe his eyes, why does Jaffa do that?
"Where are the Raali, where do you have them?"
A flash of despair appeared in Jerry’s eyes. He doesn´t understand, so he decides to gesture.
He points with his finger to his mouth and coughs a few times theatrically, pretending he suffocates. Then he turns around and pulls his arm in the direction they came from. There still is a mild smoke. Thanks to John's failure they have a common topic.
"He probably can’t talk."
"This is a bit strange. The plants want our help?" Neme is scratching his head thoughtfully, but keeps the bow pointing at the earthlings.
"It's been more than ten years since the Raali attacked us the last time, do you remember?"
"But this is not Raali! Raali is a rolling shrub with lithe whipping tentacles!"
Jaffa makes a few steps toward Jerry and thoughtfully looks at his masking clothes.
"You should let him do that, maybe it wants to sniff you." Sammy thinks.
Jaffa pokes his fingers into Jerry's clothes, then he rubs it between his fingers.
"This is a very finely woven grass! How did you manage to weave so soft and firm grass?"
The aliens are ecstatic! Those won’t be plants, they are just wearing them as a dress!
Neme now jumps to Jaffa and they both pull Jerry’s sleeves but they cannot cut them off.
"Oh great, now they’ve gone crazy."
"They´ve probably never seen clothes." Jerry smiles and gently pushes them away from himself with his other hand.
"Can you translate it now, John?"
"Unknown language, it’s very complicated and so far there is no repetition."
"A complicated language? Those two look as if they have never been to the dentist. How rich does their vocabulary need to be to capture some squirrels?"
The conversation is inaudible for the aliens, so it looks like the creatures in strange clothes are just standing silently all the time and watching them.
"Perhaps we should present ourselves, they look friendly." Jaffa said.
"Hi, I'm Neme and this is Jaffa. We come from the village nearby. Where are you from?"
The earthlings don’t understand, but Jerry repeats Neme’s gesture. He realizes what’s going on.
"Jerry," he is pointing to himself, "Sammy, John", he is pointing at his colleague and the android.
"He can talk!"
The presenting carousel continues for about ten minutes. Apparently both sides are entertained. The earthlings need to repeat simple sentences, so John can find a context for translation. Jaffa and Neme are just so excited that there are other people in the world, who certainly come from a faraway place and can weave very strong and delicate fabrics from grass!

While both races somehow try to communicate, not far behind trees, a Raali rolling shrub appears and stops in alignment behind a piece of rock.
The Raali looks like it doesn’t know what to do, because it just peeks out from behind its occultation, goes back then, as if it´s stuck in the middle of a reflex, it continues doing it over and over again.
Meanwhile, John has learned some basic necessary phrases and rules of local speech. The earthlings now stand still and let the brain induce the new language through the silent communicator.
"I’ve just remembered. Our elders used this speech. It will take time to remember it." Jerry turns to the aliens.
"That's great!"
But Jaffa decided to check every detail, before he let them go.
“Where is your village? This is the only forest far and wide, there are only mountains and a desert, you know."
"On the west there are mountains, behind the mountains is the desert and behind the desert is a forest. It’s easy to get lost, but we escaped from the plants and managed to seek help."
Such an explanation seems right. Neme takes the bag off his shoulders. There are two leather bellows with water. He pulls one out with a smile and offers it to Jerry.
"Ah, the local hospitality." Sammy ironically comments the offered water and he is smiling just because he’s supposed to.
"Wild tribes tend to help each other, each favour will then be returned to them."
"I wonder what favour they will want from us. I hope we won’t have to sort out its leaves from the bag at night."
Jerry drinks and answers by the silent communicator.
"These are definitely hunters, housework will be done by women. By the way, this liquid is really good. It tastes a bit like our mineral water."
John the android joins in the conversation.
"I need a sample for analysis. If the water is infectious, I have to get you on the ship, Jerry."
Jerry holds one sip in his mouth and spits it at John. The android without any detuning answers Jerry with a smile and loud in the alien language.
"Thank you, Jerry."
"So, are we going to catch a little pig, or whatever it is you eat?" Sammy immediately suggests a tolerable favour that he could do for them.
"Why did you do that?" Neme asks Jerry about spitting the water. Jerry obviously acted faster than his thinking.
"Our tradition is, to spit the gifted water on the closest friend."
The aliens laugh. One of them takes the bag with water, drinks and enthusiastically spits a flow of water and sticky saliva into Sammy's face.
"Oh, what a great idea."
"No, no," Jerry stops him from continuing. "Only if someone gives you water, which you haven’t asked for."
The aliens understand that it is a friendly gesture. Their eyes are burning with curiosity, what else they can learn from the visitors.
They've just decided to invite them to their village, but at that moment, the Raali behind rock stopped to move back and forth.
A small antenna extends from inside the shrub with gelatinous guts, which starts to vibrate gently in the air.
Sammy feels extra pressure inside his head, which knows only from the cognitive training at the academy. He can’t believe his own senses, right now on an alien planet in the middle of nowhere, he feels the familiar telepathic signal, although much weaker than usually.
Jaffa, Neme and Jerry get into an aggressive mood. They can feel hostile thoughts very intensively. The others certainly want to kill them!
"Well, stop playing innocent, we know why you're here!" Neme waves his clenched fist in front of Jerry.
"Hey your little shrimp, if you wanna fight, just say it. Your scales are starting to pretty much piss me off!"
"Scales, did you hear him?" Neme shouts at his companion and picks up the cudgel.
The aliens are still waiting to see what’s gonna happen, but their eyes are burning with rage.
Jaffa looks around, to see if they are on their own and suddenly he can see the living shrub behind the nearby rock.
"That’s Raali!"
Jerry, meanwhile, gets into fighting position.
"What are you doing, Jerry?"
"Shut up dumbo, I'll handle it myself!“
Sammy is surprised with that answer. Something´s getting into his mind, so he closes his eyes and discovers that someone is sending a shredded quick sequence of battles to his head and aggressively looking alien faces at some burnt place.
"That’s strange, is there some kind of special training going on?" He thinks to himself and looks around as if he wanted to check out where he actually is.
Jerry picks up his discarded pulse pistol and points it triumphantly towards the aliens.
"I shoot you into small pieces, you red scales!"
"What do you want to do with that stick? Scratch our backs?" Jaffa laughs.
In corner of their eyes they register that the Raali is approaching them. Within a second they sprint away through the jungle back to where they came from. Jerry runs in their direction, as well as the Raali.
John and Sammy stayed alone. They look surprised, although the android looks more as if the situation didn’t concern it at all.
"I wouldn’t expect them to go crazy. What are we going to do? Jerry waved his weapon around like a fool. Did you see his eyes, John?"
“Yes, but I don’t understand the context, I need more detailed instructions."
"Good thing we have an energy shield. I knew it could be useful. A hit from the pulse pistol dries up a human´s blood." Sammy exhales somewhat helplessly, trying to figure out what's going on.
John's programs freeze for a while.
"The inhabitants of this planet aren’t equipped with pulse weapons."
"But Jerry is... Or do you think that all this is just a simulation?"
"Please specify the term of 'simulation'."
"Are we on planet Zebra at the moment?"
"Yes."
"So where the hell is that coming from?" He thinks and looks around.