Chapter 5: Fights and Revelations

It was almost impossible to believe the fight was staged. Especially when the tree-like alien grabbed Dirk's arm and twisted. Tabitha felt sympathy pain when she heard it snap.
One of the aliens standing behind Tabitha winced. "He not doing good job."
The other alien shook his head. "You right, Bob. Losing fight not impress anyone."
Tabitha turned and glared. "You could help him," she said. "I'm sure he'll pay you for a real fight."
Both aliens made the strange quick, heavy breathing noise. The first one nodded. "Yyr fight hard. This fun. Come on, Doug." It rushed forward toward the tree-alien. Doug followed close behind.
The tree -- called an Yyr, according to Bob -- turned from Dirk, who was lying on the floor unmoving. It swung it's tendrils at Bob just as he leaped into the air. The tendrils caught the beast in the stomach with a chud sound.
Tabitha expected him to collapse to the floor, but to her surprise he grabbed the tendrils with all four limbs and bit the bark-like skin. The tree made a mournful howl.
Doug managed to drop down below the attacking tendrils, dash in on all fours, and start climbing the Yyr's trunk-like body.
A tendril wrapped around Doug's body and tried to pull him away, but Doug proved stronger, gripping what Tabitha assumed was the Yyr's head with three claws and punching it with one fist.
The Yyr slammed Bob down on a table, breaking dishes and scattering half-consumed meals across the floor. Bob lost his grip, and the tendril lifted up and pummeled Bob again.
While it pounded Bob, the Yyr changed tactics with with Doug. It grabbed Doug's legs with one tendril each and pulled. Doug had to stop punching and cling with both hands.
Bob finally managed to grab the tendril attacking him again. The tendril simply lifted him again and smacked him against the table. This time the table collapsed into a pile of broken plastics. The Yyr started swinging Bob around again, now smashing him against the wall.
Tabitha was unhappy with developments. From what she could tell, this was her fault, having accidentally stepped on the Yyr's appendage. But Dirk had made it worse with his macho posturing. She needed a way to end the fracas.
The direct approach clearly wasn't going to work. She didn't have the training or inclination to get into a physical brawl. She'd just get herself hurt without helping the others. She considered momentarily throwing dishes at the Yyr, but she could see already that wasn't going to be effective.
Her mind flashed from idea to idea. She even considered caressing the hurt tendril to console the Yyr. She was pushing that idea out as stupid when she thought she saw the purplish haze she'd seen outside the Chief Captain's office. For just a moment she saw the Yyr calm down while Tabitha sat next to it. Then her vision cleared and she watched as Doug started to lose his grip.
It was a bizarre thought. One she couldn't explain. But she knew she had to act on it.
Tabitha crouched low and slowly moved closer. She didn't want to get anyone's attention before she could reach her target. Step by step she made progress, the sounds of Bob and Doug getting pummeled surrounding her. Twice the Yyr's "branches" scratched across Tabitha's back as she moved, but it seemed she had escaped notice.
She stopped as she reached the Yyr's central mass. Even up close it looked like the pictures of trees she had seen. It seemed an evolutionary miracle that a being should develop a form that so closely mimicked an organism from a different star system.
She looked down at the tendril on which she had trod. It looked discolored and was curled protectively around the Yyr's middle. She wondered why the Yyr, which possessed incredible physical power, would be so sensitive. She gently placed her hand on the tendril, being careful not to touch to close to the wound and not to grasp it firmly.
The Yyr immediately stopped moving. Dirk still lay on the floor, possibly unconscious. Bob hung by an ankle and writhed furiously, trying to strike at his opponent or get free, Tabitha couldn't tell. Doug was pinned against the wall by one thick tendril with another tendril hovering nearby. Green bruises further mottled Doug's patchwork skin.
The Yyr's "leaves" were broad ellipses of a color that was almost more blue than green. They seemed to flutter very slightly now. But on closer inspection, Tabitha saw that the leaves were actually very still, but the subtle shades were slowly, gracefully rotating, spinning, waving in patterns not just within leaves, but across branches and whole portions of the Yyr's being.
A few of the Yyr's smaller branches moved near to Tabitha's head and hovered near. The leaf-like appendages angled so that the top surfaces all faced her, then flattened out, forming a single panel.
Patterns of color formed and moved, contained within the area of the panel. From the patterns Tabitha could perceive images. They weren't literally there - the leaves just showed shapes and alien designs. But in Tabitha's mind, she could see distinct images, which then resolved into a series of pictures, like a comic book Those then combined into a single moving replay, and then into a full 3D, immersive experience. And Tabitha understood she was remembering the yyr's past.
She, or rather the yyr, was doing some delicate work on some massive blocks in zero gravity. It was suited to this work, it's multiplicity of flexible, powerful limbs allowing it to hold the various pieces and use the plasma torch to repair them at the same time. But even so, accidents can happen. Something crashed into the largest block and set off all the large pieces into various movements as they bounced off each other. The yyr had to let go of the torch to keep it from crushing him. Instinctively it grabbed for the dropped tool, missing it and losing his concentration. The large block was knocked again and this time crushed one tentacle.
"So that's why I could hurt you. You were already injured." Tabitha sat down, stroking the hurt tendril sympathetically.
The colors on the panel dispersed evenly and stopped moving for just a moment. As they gradually started moving again, Tabitha heard something. It wasn't a true sound. It was a fully formed word in her mind. It felt like she heard it, but she could also tell it hadn't passed her ears. And as she heard the word, she knew it was the yyr speaking to her.
"Q'dari" it said.