Pellistair - Chapters 4 & 5

Chapter Four

Fedore strode down the street. This was not good. He had assumed, they had all assumed, that the space ship had been wrecked in the crash. They wouldn’t be happy to find out they were wrong.

Something would have to be done. But what, he mused as he turned the corner into a back street. They had lost touch with their agent inside the Bureau years ago, and all information about crashes was kept secret. Most of the crashes weren’t even known about by the public.

He shook his head. Those at the Bureau knew what they were doing, and they would make a difficult adversary.

He arrived at a door, so covered in grunge it was hard to tell apart from the wall. He pushed it open with some difficulty, the hinges screeching in protest.

“We really must change those hinges” a lazy female voice said from inside.

“Do you want to pay for someone to come change them? And do you want people to see where we’re hiding, and go tell other people where we are?” A high energy voice near the ceiling said in reply.

“The hinges don’t matter right now” Fedore said, stepping inside a small room. There was a flight of stairs leading up into the darkness in the back of the room, and a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The floor was covered in old tattered blue carpet, and the walls were hung with faded red wallpaper. “There are more important things to worry about.”

“You mammals worry and rush around too much. It makes me tired just watching you” the female voice said. Fedore turned to see a lady ghila monster laying on a couch in the corner. Her eyes were half closed.
“Maybe we do, Ellora” Fedore replied. “But this really is important”

“Important. Pha” Ellora said, yawning. “Nothing important ever happens, not here on Pellistair. Everyone makes sure of that” she finished sarcastically.

“Let him talk, Ellora. Fedore doesn’t make needless fusses” a quiet voice said. The two of them turned to see a gray panther standing on the landing of the stairs.

“The spaceship wasn’t destroyed in the crash, contrary to what we were lead to believe” Fedore said.

Ellora hissed out angrily, “The Bereau deliberately deceived the public, so we wouldn’t know. They know we’d make trouble if we found out.”

“How did you find out, Fedore?” the panther asked.

“I talked to the girl who crashed” Fedore said.

Ellora looked at him with shock. “I thought the two of them were going to be supervised at all times” she said, looking surprised.

“That’s what I’d heard, too, but there was no one with her in the inn” Fedore said.

“This will take some looking into” the panther said, looking grim. “Habliz! Can you get into the mechanic lab in the Bereau?”

An albino monkey wearing a rubber trench coat and boots dropped from the chandelier, where he had been sitting. “I can try” he said, “but it’ll be hard. They’re very careful about who they hire, and you know how unpopular I am among employers”

“Just try, that’s all I can ask” the panther said. “Fedore, you try to get more information. Ellora, try to get in touch with all our contacts in the city. Try to see if they have any useful information.”

“What will you be doing?” Ellora asked, stretching lazily and getting up off her couch.
“I have something to go look up” the panther said, turning around and going back up the stairs.

“I wonder what” Ellora mused, pulling on a pair of black boots.
“Sometimes I think he keeps more secrets than are good for him.”

“Well, I don’t want to know them. Who knows what sorts of trouble he’s been in, in the past.” Habliz said, heading towards the door. “Besides, I’ve got other things to worry about.”

The door shut behind him. “He’s really nervous about this, isn’t he?” Ellora said.

“Well, you know what happened at his last job” Fedore said quietly.

“Yes,” Ellora said, growing serious. “I hope it doesn’t happen again”

“I hope so, too” Fedore said, sighing and going up the stairs.

“What are you doing?” Ellora said. “I thought you were supposed to go get more information.”

“I will, later” Fedore called down. “There’s something I need to go look at, first”

Ellora shook her head, all alone in the downstairs room. “So many secrets. Do any of us really know the others? And will these secrets get us into trouble?” She mused, sighing.


Maria stared around the street outside the inn in fascination. There were all sorts of animals all over the place, yelling and talking and gossiping. Stalls selling everything imaginable, and some things unimaginable, lined the street. She saw a stall selling flowers of colors she’d never seen, a stall selling what looked like giant earrings, for those with bigger ears, a stall selling scale die kits, and many more things that she couldn’t figure out what they were for.

Ishka had to drag both Robert and Maria through the street. Neither of them noticed where they were going, they were so busy looking. Ishka was too worried about their meeting with the Bureau to be interested, although this was her first visit to the capital. She hoped neither of them had said anything they weren’t supposed to in the inn, while she had been away. The problem was, she had no idea what they were supposed not to say. The Bureau had not been very forthcoming on that.

Robert was enthralled by all the smells. He could smell the pungent smell of dies for clothes, scales, fur and anything else you could think of, numerous strange flower smells, the smell of every street vendor with exotic food, even the unusual smell of the paving stones. He couldn’t believe that the people lived here with all these smells, all the time. It was overwhelming, but at the same time, intoxicating. I wouldn’t mind staying a lizard for a while more, if it means still being able to experience this, he thought, tasting the air.

They neared a large stone building, which stuck out like a sore thumb against all its neighboring wooden buildings. Several words in a different alphabet were carved onto the front of the building.

“What does it say?” Maria asked.

“It says, “The Bureau of Off World Visitors,” Ishka explained.

Maria and Robert stared at the building nervously, all their wonders and questions about the street forgotten. This is where we find out what will happen to us, they both thought, nervously.


Andrew Duval was waiting for the mechanics to come tell him about the ship, so he could tell Maria and Robert. It’s been such a long time since I heard human names, or saw human faces, he thought. He hadn’t been allowed to see any of the other human visitors. These two were the first the Bureau had trusted him with.

He sighed. Gaining back their trust, after the mess of things he’d made when he landed here, had taken almost twenty years, and he still didn’t think they trusted him entirely. He wasn’t sure if he trusted them.

The door opened behind him. He turned to see Ishka, Maria, and Robert heading up the stairs towards him. He started towards them to greet them, wondering what he’d say. He still didn’t know the state of their ship, or what the Bereau had in plan for them.


Maria looked around the building as they walked up the stairs. All of the buildings she had been in on Pellistair had been welcoming, whether it was the sunny openness of the hospital, or the dark clutter of the inn, but this building was just depressing. The walls, floor, and ceiling were stone, and the lights were electric, giving off a cold blue light.

No wonder Andrew Duval always looks depressed, she thought, shivering slightly. Anyone would be if they worked here.

When they reached the top of the stairs, they found Andrew Duval there to great them. After a polite round of hellos and how-do-you-dos, Duval said apologetically, “I don’t know what to tell you. The mechanics report hasn’t arrived yet, so-“

A polished voice interrupted him. “If you’ll all come this way, I believe I can answer your questions about your ship.” They all turned to see an extremely well groomed black panther standing at the bottom of another flight of stairs. Maria noticed out of the corner of her eye that Duval tensed slightly at the arrival of this new person. Duval, she mused. I know I’ve heard that name somewhere recently, and it wasn’t that actors name. Before she could think any more about this, they were all ushered upstairs to a room so neat it was almost creepy. They all sat down on uncomfortable chairs (except the black panther, who stood at the end of the room).

“You’ll be glad to know that your ship is repairable, although it may take some time. You’ll also be happy to know it’s navigational logs are intact, so you should be able to find your way back to your planet,” the black panther said, after introducing himself as Adelon.

Maria and Robert sighed with relief, but Maria noticed that Duval didn’t relax at all, or look relieved. If anything, he looked more tense than he had before.

“However,” Adelon added smoothly, “There is something I must talk to you about.” Maria got a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.
“When you get back to your planet, you must tell nobody about your time here, or that Pellistair even exists. You’ll have to delete your travel logs, and any evidence of Pellistair you might have. No one from your planet may know that we are out here. Do you understand?” Adelon said all of this with a frightening intensity. “If you can not keep our existence a secret, we won’t be able to let you leave.”


Chapter Five

Ishka was the first to speak. “I don’t understand. Why wouldn’t they be allowed to leave? All the humans who have landed here have been peaceful, and they haven’t caused any harm. Also, it sounds like we’re so far away from their planet that it wouldn’t be practical for any of them to come here.”

Adelon shook his head. “We’ve been lucky that the humans who landed here have been peaceable, but they aren’t all that way, as I’m sure you two will agree,” he said, directing the last statement to Maria and Robert. They both nodded, thinking of the horrible things some humans had done on Earth. On a different planet, populated by animals, who knows what havoc they could wreak. “And as for our being far away from out planet, I’m sure that the distance wouldn’t keep everyone away. People running from the law, people who want a live without the confines of human law, they’d want to come here, and we don’t really want them coming here.”

Robert frowned, and asked, “What about my scales? If I stay a lizard even when we go back, we’ll have to say something.”

“I’m fairly sure that the transformation wouldn’t last long if you left Pellistair. I assume there’s something about the atmosphere that makes people transform, and if you left it’s influence, you should go back to the way you were originally were” Duval said, speaking for the first time since they’d enter the room.

Robert sighed in relief. As interesting as it was, being a lizard, he didn’t want to stay one forever.

“Then you’ll agree to our terms?” Adelon asked.

Maria and Robert nodded. “We won’t tell anyone, and we’ll erase our travel log. It’s the least we can do for you, after everything you’ve done for us” Maria said, Robert nodding in agreement.

“Good” Adelon said. “In the mean time, Ishka is needed back at the hospital, and I’ve arranged for a new person to show you around Pellistair and answer any questions you might have”

Ishka frowned. “Why do they need me back so quickly? We don’t have very many patients at the moment” she asked.

“I don’t know the details, but they said you were needed badly” Adelon replied. “They asked that you go back as quickly as possible.”

Ishka nodded reluctantly. “Who’ll take care of them when I leave?” She asked politely.

The door opened, and, much to Maria and Robert’s surprise, Fedore walked in. “This man has politely offered to escort you around the city in the time of your stay here. He came here after talking to you in the inn, and expressed his concern over your welfare. I asked his employers at the accounting shop what they thought of him, and they highly recommended him.” Adelon said.

Fedore bowed to Maria and Robert. “It’s a pleasure to meet you again” he said, straightening up with a smile.

“It’s nice to see you again, too,” Maria said, meaning it. She was surprised at how happy she was to see a familiar face.

“Now that that’s all settled,” Adelon interrupted, starting to look a bit bored, “the mechanics have some questions about the designs and the workings of your ship, which they need answered before they can go on working. If you’ll all come this way.” He lead them out of the room, and down many flights of stairs until they reached a heavy metal door. He keyed in a number on the number pad beside the door, and it slid open.


Stepping inside the biggest room they had ever been in in their lives, Maria and Robert looked around with wonder. Their ship was in the middle of the floor, with lots of mechanics swarming all over it, making adjustments and calling to each other. Hanging from the ceiling were the remains of all the space ships that had landed there. Most of them were similar to Maria and Robert’s ship, except all in much worse state. Maria noticed Duval glance briefly at a ship in the back corner. That must be his ship, she thought, filing away the information for later.

As they walked towards their ship, Maria noticed a gray tabby cat standing a little ways from the space ship, making notes on a clipboard. She was shaking her head in displeasure when they walked up. “This ship of yours is not very well thought out” she said, making more notes on her clipboard.

“Does Modgen have questions about the ship?” Adelon asked her.

“Yes, he does” the cat said, tucking her clipboard under her arm.

“Modgen!” She yelled, cupping her paws to her mouth. They heard an indistinct shout from the other side of the ship. “He’s coming” the cat said satisfiedly.

They only had to wait a few minutes until a small lemur came hurrying over. “These are the humans who own the ship” Adelon said, indicating Maria and Robert.

“Good, good” Modgen said, bowing to the two of them quickly. “Do either of you know how the engine of your machine works?” He asked, blinking at them expectantly.

“Well, we did have to work on it a bit, to get it into working order, so we do know a-“ Robert was cut off by a siren sounding. A bat hanging upside down on the ship yelled out, “Electrical overload!” Everyone on the ship hurried off, dropping tools in all directions. The ship began sparking all over the place, and finally let off a huge spark, lighting up the whole room for a minute.
A shape flew off the ship, thrown off by the electricity. Nobody moved for a few minutes, until they realized that it was one of the mechanics. He hit the floor and didn’t move.

They all rushed over. It was an albino monkey, wearing a rubber trench coat. “Get that off of him, so we can see if he’s burnt at all” the cat ordered, kneeling down besides the mechanic. She let out a hiss as the coat was taken off.

“What is it?” Adelon asked.

“This,” the cat said, getting up and motioning to the lifeless mechanic. They all crowded closer and looked.

Under the coat, the monkey was wearing a white shirt, and protruding from his arms were…. Bat wings? Maria peered closer. Fringing his arm were the beginnings of bat wings, enough to be noticeable, but not enough for him to be able to fly. “You have flying monkeys here?” Maria asked, looking up at the cat and Adelon, thinking of The Wizard of Oz.

“No,” Adelon said, looking grim. He turned to Modgen. “Who hired him?”

“I did,” Modgen replied, staring down at the mechanic with worry. “His name’s Habliz, and he managed to fix the automatic door locks, which no one’s been able to fix in months. I hired him this morning.”

“You should have been more careful” Adelon said. Modgen looked up angrily.

“He’s just been electrocuted, and he might be dead, and all you care about is the fact that he’s a hybrid?” He spat out, kneeling down and lifting Habliz up with help from the mechanic. The two of them carried him out of the room.

Maria turned to Adelon. “What’s a hybrid?” She asked.

“A hybrid is a mix between two species, a person with one parent of one species, and the other parent of a different species,” Ishka said, looking after Habliz worriedly.

“Why is that a problem?” Robert asked. “With all these different species here, it must be a common thing.”

“I’ll explain,” Duval said, taking Robert’s and Maria’s arms to lead them out of the room.

Adelon opened his mouth to object. “I’ll explain” Duval said firmly, pulling Maria and Robert out of the room, Ishka and Fedore following behind. Maria looked back to see Adelon and the tabby cat talking together and looking disapproving.

Duval took them to a different room this time, with more comfortable chairs. After Maria and Robert sat down, Duval started to explain. “A hybrid is, as Ishka told you, a person with mixed parentage, a mix between two species. They are looked down on all over the world, for no other reason then their parentage, a fact they can’t help” Duval said bitterly. He obviously didn’t like this.

“But,” Maria said, “as Robert said, there are so many different species that this should be usual, shouldn’t it? It doesn’t make sense not to marry someone of another species, because there are so few of each species.”

Duval sighed. “Adelon will kill me for saying this,” he said with a smile. “There are very strict rules in society here. Members of different species can talk to each other, work together, and even be friends, but on no account are they allowed to marry each other or have children. You are supposed to stick with your own kind. There are even some species who will not talk to each other, who will not serve the other species if they come into a shop where they are working. For instance, you’ll almost never find a cat in the same building that a dog works in, and the deer and the wolves never talk to each other, and always live as far apart in cities as they can manage. Hybrids are looked down on as direct violations of these rules. They find it hard to get jobs, and if they’re found out, they’ll be ignored, ridiculed, and even in some cases, beaten up and left for dead.”

Maria and Robert looked at him in horror. “That’s awful!” Maria cried.

“It is,” Ishka said, Fedore nodding in agreement, “but it’s the way things are.”

“Why hasn’t anything been done about it? Why hasn’t anyone spoken out against it?” Robert asked.

“Because of the species divide, it’s hard to get anyone to help you, or agree with you” Duval said. “And most people don’t even think about it, since they were raised that way.”

“You weren’t!” Maria cried.

“No, I wasn’t, but my word doesn’t count for much, being human originally,” Duval said, smiling slightly bitterly.

There were the sounds of footsteps outside. “You’d all better go. There won’t be much work on the ship today, so you’ll have to come back later to answer questions about it” Duval said, escorting them out of the building. He bowed and went back in.

“I need to go arrange some things with my employers,” Fedore said, bowing and heading off.

As they watched him go, Ishka said, “Before I leave, is there anything I can do for you two?”

“Well, my clothes don’t really fit anymore, since I have a tail now” Robert said. “If you could perhaps tell me where a clothes shop is, that would be helpful.”

“I won’t just show you, I’ll take you to one. Maria, can you find your way back to the hotel?” Ishka asked.

“Sure! You two go on.” Maria waved the two of them off, and when they were out of sight, she turned around to go back to the hotel. It was then that she realized that she’d been so busy looking at the sights and the sounds on the way there that she had no idea how to get back.

Well, it shouldn’t be too hard to find. We didn’t walk for very long until we got here, she thought, heading off in the opposite direction that Ishka and Robert had gone.