The Shape of Things to Come

by Marianne Dyson

Illustration by Arthur George

It was hot on the beach, so Suetork spread herself nearly flat, her transparent sphere becoming a ring of what appeared to be damp sand. She scattered her black eyes around like pebbles, on the watch for predators who might recognize her kind despite the careful camouflage.

“Alert! Movement—possible predators,” Enupten, the leader, relayed. She was sunbathing farthest from the blue deep, but not far enough for Suetork. Just because she managed to evade the keen eyes of an elaw by superb blending of shadow shades, Enupten thought she was better than the rest of them.

Suetork rearranged her eyes into the warning cluster. One of her sisters, in the mundane shape and color of sea slime, got the message and rolled her “tarball” eyes into the same configuration. The message was thus transmitted all down the beach.

As Suetork readjusted her eyes, her sensor hairs detected sound waves from the direction of the predators. She formed a shell shape to better receive the message, but it was not an elaw code she recognized. Firming her surface by squeezing out bubbles, she watched the predators move closer, hoping her new form would protect her. She took a great deal of satisfaction in trying out new shapes, but if it were too different, the elaw might be suspicious and attack. She noticed Enupten was quick to copy her, though the imitation was a bit sloppy around the edges.

The strange code did not prepare her for the even stranger shape of the two predators. What kind of weather would cause a being to bunch itself vertically and move by alternating two long, skinny appendages? A shape like that could be seen against any background! Had the elaw gone mad?

The two tall beings carried a long white thing and a large black rock between them. She watched as they dropped these things on the sand, wondering if they were food. If so, they were unlike any base shape she had ever seen a creature take upon death. It took a tremendous amount of energy to maintain sharp features, and most things were dull, not shiny, once the life no longer pulsed within. Yet the rock-thing maintained many sharp corners.

While one being did something to the rock, the other removed a trap sack from its back and dumped a small version of itself onto the sand. Suetork quivered in relief. These beings were not an immediate threat—they had brought their food. Perhaps they needed that weird shape to catch the food and had not changed yet? Suetork knew small beings like her kind had an advantage in the speed with which they could change shape. The massive predators, like elaw, sometimes took hours to change.

Yes, that must be it. These were some new extra large size elaw that had just returned from hunting in the odd lands beyond the dunes. Suetork imagined the challenge and excitement of surviving in a land with so many strange shapes! She doubted Enupten had enough creativity to last a day in such a place.

The beings were either stupid or not hungry, because they let their food crawl away. The food must have been injured during capture because it did not change shape, even when it reached the wet blue deep. Suetork began to suspect the food was not food after all, but a young one of the larger beings. It needed its leaders to change shape first so it could copy them.

She communicated this idea to Enupten, but she rudely displayed her opinion by allowing a gas bubble to pop in Suetork’s direction. The young ones in the group happily imitated this gesture. Though Enupten chided them, it was obvious to Suetork the leader enjoyed teaching the young these bad manners.

But when a wave broke over the “food” and it didn’t change shape, even Enupten had to admit Suetork was most likely right. It was stubbornly maintaining its leaders’ current shape to show how strong it was, even though it nearly drowned for its efforts. Suetork felt sorry for it.

One of the adults moved the little one away from the waves to a spot near Enupten. What they needed to do was show the offspring a new shape, but Suetork guessed they were too stupid to realize this. She could not fathom why they would take that awkward vertical shape in the first place. Every living thing must change to suit the environment or die. Surely they had been trying for something else and failed.

The sand and sun were hot, very hot, and the stupid beings did not spread out or turn white to reflect the heat. Even the brainless dipputs could do that! The poor small one sat there drying out and making bubbling-blue noises which the leaders ignored.

Suetork’s many delicate surface sensors, straining for sounds of approaching elaw, were suddenly overwhelmed into flatness against her skin by a thundering roar generated, at least it seemed, from the dead rock thing.

Luckily, the roar was of short duration, subsiding into a low, but rather familiar sound. If she didn’t know better, she would swear the tall beings had somehow gotten the dead rock to suck the wet blue like a sand thog, using the white thing for a hollow reed! Why the tall ones would do this made no sense at all to Suetork. Dead things do not need to drink! Her opinion of the beings’ intelligence dropped to dumber than dipputs. Maybe intelligence decreased with addition of mass?

As the day progressed, it got hotter and hotter, but the beings still did not alter their shape. The wind changed from still to blow-away force and back to still and the beings looked the same. Suetork got shinier in the heat and opened holes for the wind to pass through. Enupten allowed her surface to bubble, producing rainbows to impress the young ones. Suetork hated showoffs. A good leader saved her energy for danger. Though these weird beings appeared not to be a threat, there could be an elaw hidden in the dunes this very moment.

Enupten continued her display, and understandably, built up quite an appetite. She boldly announced she intended to trap and eat the small being. Suetork objected, shaking her eyes at Enupten. Taking advantage of a helplessly stupid creature was not appropriate behavior for a leader. She stopped just short of accusing Enupten of being too lazy to find more challenging prey. She would not risk the safety of the entire group by arousing her to fight where there might be elaw.

Suetork monitored as Enupten slid across the sands and wiggled underneath the small one. The poor thing must have sensed the danger it was in because it smeared sand over its pink outer skin. Such a pitiful attempt to blend in with its surroundings! Enupten easily captured the being in a clear bubble.

The being thrashed about inside the skin of the trap. Its shape stayed the same, and it turned, not yellow like the sand or clear like the trap, but red! Suetork’s anger with Enupten grew as she refused to quickly end the poor thing’s miserable existence. A proper leader would not play with her food!

While the large beings were out of sight behind their rock-thing, their trapped young one changed color from red to blue. Suetork hoped that meant it would turn to liquid and escape, depriving Enupten of an easy meal. But it stubbornly maintained its shape. Suetork admitted to a certain curiosity as to what its base shape might be. If it were some kind of mutant elaw, it would turn to a gray log as it died.

Before the thing reverted, though, Enupten formed little teeth to bite it. “Mmm, salty!” she signaled. Suetork quivered in angry disgust. She could not remain in a group where a leader spread so low as to eat live prey! Enupten must be scattered immediately. Cautiously, so as not to attract attention from hidden elaw, Suetork slid next to Enupten.

“I challenge you as leader,” she signaled with her eyes.

Enupten could not fight her and eat, so she let the trap bubble collapse into vinelike ropes to hold the creature. But before they engaged, the wounded thing responded by emitting a high frequency wail, warning its leaders. Suetork noted the little thing had enough sense to use a warning code likely to be captured above the loud sucking of the rock-thing. Being able to warn the group to flee would be especially important for creatures that couldn’t change shape quickly.

Seeing one of its kind trapped, logically, Suetork expected them to cut their losses and flee. But the second tallest being not only rushed toward the small one, it threw a rock at Enupten.

This action confused Enupten, but Suetork suddenly understood. These creatures had found and killed some other whose base shape was rocklike. If the small one added mass suddenly by eating this rock, it could break away. Perhaps these beings were not as dumb as they looked.

As she’d done to evade elaw, Enupten shifted air from her holding sack to the impact point. The rock bounced off harmlessly.

Then the tallest one took a straight section of the white thing, which Sue-tork had now decided must be a form of tall dried grass, and swung it at Enupten’s vines with a force that shook the sand! Suetork was both shocked and amazed. The longer an appendage, the weaker it should be. But the blows were anything but weak. Enupten tried the bubble routine, but she had used up too much energy with her showing off and playing around to move quickly enough or change to liquid form and escape. The tallest one pounded Enupten into pieces.

Each piece of Enupten which held an eye had the potential to grow into a new creature. The weather, the elaw, and other predators would make sure only the best survived. Suetork hoped a smarter Enupten would evolve in a few seasons.

As soon as Enupten was scattered, the one who threw the rock snatched the small one to its front. Suetork noted the small one was leaking where it had been bitten and also from its two main eyes. The large one pressed it to its mouth. Suetork rolled her eyes to one side, knowing what this must mean. The small one was probably leaking too much to save, and was too young to scatter. The leader, with more manners than Enupten had shown, meant to put a quick end to the little one’s suffering by eating it. Many species did that, but Suetork had no desire to watch.

She turned just in time to see the tallest one swinging at her with its deadly white thing. Already it had scattered several of the young ones, all of whom had copied Enupten’s… Suetork’s shape! She should have realized this large a creature would require many pieces for food. As the blow struck and the pain shot through her, Suetork knew she would soon be scattered. She must retain this unlucky form to distract the being, giving the others time to change and escape. She signaled to one of her sisters to have the group use the blue wave shape with eyes of shells in the surf.

As the group changed, edges curling into white foam tinged with pink, Suetork braced for the next blow. To her surprise, it merely scratched. The being apparently had run out of energy. It threw the white reed-thing down and rushed away, clumsily throwing sand everywhere.

Suetork blocked her pain, and wished she could join the others in the soothing blue. But, all around her were the eye pieces of Enupten. As much as she had disliked the former leader, she would not slide over her eye-pieces and crush them. Besides, her wound would bleed upon the sand or into the blue and bring the elaw or sand thogs upon them all. For the safety of the group, she would have to stay apart from them until her leaking stopped.

Some of her sisters floated as oil stains on the blue, offering what comfort they could from a distance. They would wait to see her fate, recording her interaction with the tall ones as a lesson to be shared with others of their kind. They honored her bravery with their own, but they were in danger as long as they waited so close to her seeping fluids and Enupten’s. Elaw were pretty stupid, but they would scent her soon. As if in response to her thought, one of her sisters signaled from the wet blue, “Alert! Elaw approaching!”

Suetork moved her eyes back toward the dunes. There they were, two elaw disguised as large rolling bushes with black thorn eyes, coming her way. Only the sight of the tall beings made them hesitate. Elaw rarely risked attack by more massive creatures than themselves. For example, they would never attack Suetork’s kind during the annual mating when the group merged into one giant creature.

Eventually though, if the tall ones continued to ignore the fresh food on the beach, the elaw would conclude, as she had earlier, that the tall ones were not hungry, and therefore not a threat. Then the elaw would come for her.

As one of the tall ones turned its eyes away from her direction, perhaps sensing the elaw, she noticed the small one clung to its back! So, it had not been eaten after all. It had also reverted to its previous pink color.

While Suetork waited, wondering which species would claim her first, she distracted herself by considering how the tall shape might have survival value. Being large and slow, the beings must have been attacked often. The ability to lift young ones so they didn’t leak on the sand and attract additional predators would be useful. It was similar to her old leader’s trick of making a leak into a pool. It worked great for small leaks caused by thorn scrapes or falls. These quickly dried in the sun. Unfortunately for her, Enupten’s scattering released fluids and food that would continue to attract scavengers for days.

Unless… What an idea! If the tall ones were as dumb as she imagined, it should not be too difficult to fool them into thinking she was one of their young ones! They would pick her up and carry her to safety. Later, she would change into something else, and they’d never know what happened. It just might work!

All her life Suetork had changed to suit her environment. Now was her chance to try out a really different shape.

Quickly, she studied the small one. She was about the same mass, but with a leak, she could not maintain the pressure needed to fill all those branching digits. She could manage four simple appendages arranged evenly about her spherical night shape though. Quickly, she redistributed her mass into the right general shape.

She clustered her eyes into two large areas and raised her hairy surface sensors to their full height. Instead of matching the sand, she warmed herself to a pink color like the young one. She felt incredibly exposed, but if she hoped for the beings to notice her, she had to take the risk. It wouldn’t be long before the elaw got up the courage to come close enough to scent her anyway.

The shape changing caused her to seep even more fluid into the sand. She paused, thinking how best to disguise the hairless leaking areas. Examining the small one again, she noted its mouth shone with wetness. In fact, the big ones had wet mouths, too! She was repulsed, realizing that this opening must serve for both eating and waste rejection. But she would use this knowledge to her advantage.

With some difficulty and discomfort, Suetork forced the leaking areas to merge. She then rippled her surface until the hairless area was below and centered between the two eye clusters.

Before the elaw had a chance to move closer, Suetork completed the new shape, but the beings ignored her. After all this, she feared they would gather their strange rock-thing and leave her to the elaw! What could she do?

Then Suetork remembered the high frequency wail the small one had made to warn the tall ones. Could she make such a sound? She stretched a section out, then sucked it in, creating a bubble like Enupten had done to deflect blows. Only instead of popping it rudely the way Enupten had done, she let the air out slowly through a small opening.

“Squeak! Squeak!” The sound came out in two short bursts. Success! The beings turned in her direction! She quickly sucked in another batch of air. “Squeak! Squeeeaakk!”

The one who had attacked her earlier approached, coming between her and the elaw. The longer she delayed the elaw, the more time Enupten’s eye pieces had to harden their protective shells. So, even if she were unsuccessful in getting them to lift her out of danger, Suetork took comfort in knowing she had contributed to the survival of her group, as a good leader should.

“Squeak! Squeak!” she repeated. The pain from her wounds intensified with the intake and release of the bubbles. Her sisters undulated rainbows of concern at her from the wet blue. She couldn’t signal them without disturbing her collected eyes, but it was a comfort to know they watched and cared.

Did these new beings also care for each other’s survival? Suetork had to admit they had surprised her with their defense of their young one. But even elaw fought for their young when the survival of the group was at stake. With only one surviving young, these beings were probably near extinction.

The tallest one wandered off in the wrong direction. She assumed this was because that one had such short sense hairs, and they were clustered all on one end of its shape. The one holding the young on its back had much longer, and probably more capable, inputs that responded by waving in the wind. She would direct her sounds at that one. Suetork gulped another bag of air. “Squeak!” she repeated. The long-sensored one wailed a code at the tallest one, and it turned her way.

As Suetork rested for another sounding attempt, the tallest one finally spotted her. Amazingly enough, it didn’t step on any of Enupten’s pieces. In fact, it looked to Suetork as if the reason it took so long to reach her was it was carefully avoiding stepping on anything but sand. Either it was so ignorant it feared attack from the pieces, or it was saving them for later consumption. Suetork didn’t know which explanation she preferred.

At any rate, the creature came very close, then folded its long shape so it was closer to the sand. It was a very complicated thing to do, and Suetork had to admire its ability to redistribute its mass that way. It then made soft sounds at her, its eyes larger than before. She assumed the sounds and eyes enlarging were its way of releasing the pressure squeezed out from the folding.

Then the long-sensored one came, now with the small one held with its two upper appendages, and also folded up to be low to the sand. They both released a lot of pressure, emitting noises and waving their upper limbs. Were they surprised to find one of their young here? Had she fooled them?

The tallest one was about to touch her when the small one squealed and puckered its mouth. The one holding it responded by giving it a small brown log resembling the base form of a dead dipput. Suetork hoped some of her sisters noticed this. It might prove useful to know how the small ones squealed when they were hungry.

The tallest one still had not touched her, and Suetork feared they would decide she wasn’t one of them after all. With her leak, she could not pucker the skin she’d formed as a mouth. So, she made the same squeak as before.

In response, the beings showed their teeth! Suetork’s temperature dropped as she realized her error.

These beings had not ignored the food pieces scattered across the beach because they were not hungry—they ignored them because they preferred their food whole!

She must escape! But how?

Had her wounds emptied her brains? The being, alternately using one and then the other of its long appendages for support, had stepped over things! What a discovery! In this new shape, she could step over the hardening eye pieces of Enupten! If she arranged her mass to pool her leaking part on top, she would not even leave a trail the elaw could follow!

Suetork inhaled to build pressure in the four little appendages. Slowly, her primary mass rose above the sand. She concentrated on keeping her eyes and “mouth” on top. She tried shifting her mass to one side and lifting one appendage. Smack! She flopped to the sand, the four little appendages sticking out to the sides as before. How did the beings balance themselves on only two appendages?

She inhaled to build up pressure in the four little limbs and struggled upward again. But as she shifted her mass to one side, she wobbled and flopped back down. As she fell, her bubble of extra air squeezed out in a deeper, longer, “Squeaakkk!”

Suddenly, she was lifted into the air! The tallest one held her to its middle and ran its salty digits over her delicate pink hairs. Its mouth opened to show teeth—lots of teeth! The other one curled its mouth and showed its teeth, too! The small one squealed, waving its brown food stick toward her. Suetork quivered instinctively. They were hungry all right, and she was doomed!

The tallest one wrapped its upper limbs around her. Even as Suetork braced herself for absorption, she wondered how it would feel to be dissolved whole instead of scattered. Would some part of her continue, or was she to be the last Suetork? She almost envied Enupten’s fate compared to her own.

She wiggled, hoping the creature might lose its grip on her. But this action only caused the being to squeeze her more tightly. The being’s salty skin burned madly as it pressed against her wound, but Suetork clamped down on her response. Leaders must be brave!

While the tallest being held her tightly, the long-sensored one leaned close to inspect her. Why hadn’t they absorbed her yet? She allowed herself a spot of hope that she had fooled them after all.

Her leaking had nearly stopped, so she sucked in the tender hairless skin, created a bubble, and emitted another squeak. She tried her best to imitate the young one’s hunger call, to remove any doubts they might have about her being one of them.

Yes! The long-sensored one offered her a little brown food stick! As she sucked it into her “mouth,” she congratulated herself on her cleverness. Not only had she fooled the creatures into lifting her out of danger, she had gotten them to feed her!

She shifted liquid to her bubble to dissolve and absorb the mass of the food. It was covered with salt crystals! Never had she tasted any prey so wonderful. Her digestive juices pulsed in ecstasy, raising her body temperature and deepening her color.

As she drifted in a state of semiawareness, digesting the food, the tallest one folded itself and set her back down on the cold sand! Abruptly she spread her eyes and gulped air to lower her temperature. Why had they let her go?

Did they expect her to follow them? Maybe they only carried the young when they were leaking or hungry?

The winds had picked up again, and the temperature was rapidly dropping. Soon, it would be dark. The elaw had taken advantage of the tall ones being busy with her, and quickly dragged off what food they wanted. The danger gone, her sisters had begun washing ashore and changing themselves to sand balls to guard against the coming cold.

She had to make a choice: either join her sisters, or retain her new shape and go with the tall ones. Her kind’s survival would be enhanced if a group of them expanded into a new territory and diversified their food sources. The taste of the brown food stick lingered inside her, firming her decision. She must go with the tall ones now. There were only three of them, and odds were good they wouldn’t survive long. She would learn all she could from them, and then report back.

She signaled to her sisters and explained her plan to join the tall ones and explore the land beyond the dunes. They were sad, but also excited at the possibilities of new foods and the increased breeding opportunities success would bring. She appointed Vimrob as leader in case something went wrong, and then proceeded to lure the beings back to her.

She sucked in air and exhaled, “Squeak! Squeeaak!” She also tried getting up on her four little limbs to follow them, and even made two steps before falling. With practice, she could do it, but she would be better off getting them to carry her. She puckered up her hairless spot and made a pop sound like she’d seen the young one do. Oh, yes! She was getting better and better at this! The tallest one turned its two main eyes at her. She puckered up again. “Smooch!”

That did it! The tallest one folded itself and then lifted Suetork high again as it straightened out. Suetork saw that the young one rode on the back of the other tall one as before, its upper limbs wrapped around it. Imitating it, Suetork settled herself on a flat area atop one of the tallest one’s upper limbs, pressing against a curve for support.

She shared heat with the tall one like she did with her sisters at night. She was pleasantly surprised how much heat it gave back! Sleeping on one of these beings would be like stretching out on warm sand. She even spread her hairless section out flat to cool off a bit, running it over one of the tall one’s hairless spots. It didn’t seem to mind, and Suetork enjoyed the salty taste of its skin.

After a short time, the two tall ones lifted the white hollow tube and suspended the rock thing from it between them. As they shifted their mass from side to side, the rock thing sloshed with blue deep. Suetork still didn’t understand why they did this, but looked forward to figuring it out.

As the being carried her toward the dunes, Suetork considered how nice it was to not worry about elaw, the night cold, or if she would find enough food to bud the next generation of Suetorks in time to dominate the annual mating. Being treated as a young one certainly had survival value! If it turned out the beings fell to some predator before they caught more of the brown food, Suetork would simply join the feast, and then try her ruse with the winners. Eventually, she imagined her whole group would use this trick to survive and thrive as never before.

Content

The Shape of Things to Come
by Marianne Dyson