AUTHOR'S NOTE -- This is the Season Four premiere, as it were, of "Luminous" ...



Mid-morning.

A gurgling ball of fluff ... extended in the squirrel's paw.

The snow leopard frowned.

"Pet it."

"What is ... ‘it,' exactly?"

"I don't know," Juneau admitted, retracting her arm ... and holding the little creature in both paws. It quavered. Going, "whistle-coo ... whistle-coo" ... " ... I found it," said Juneau, "outside one of the housing units. Mm ... it feeds off of electrical and neural energy."

"Energy?"

"Yeah ... "

"Then it is dangerous." The feline eyes narrowed ... as she analyzed the lifeform.

"No, it's ... harmless. It only feeds a tiny bit. Not enough to affect the source. If it drains the source, it'll ... have nothing left to siphon energy from. Mm ... " The fingers of her paws ... traced over the warm, spherical creature. It was like a furry ball. And, still, it went, "whistle-coo ... whistle-coo ... "

A lot of the furs weren't up yet. Some were, but ... during the past four months, the crew had started to build a settlement. Had erected self-sustaining housing units. Which had electricity ... from solar power. Running water. A little village. It was simple, and it was stark, but it was something ... was a home. And at least half the crew now lived outside Luminous, in the units. The ship itself ...

... being visible as a shape on the horizon. Two miles away, in the open plains. The settlement next to the creek and the edge of the woods.

"Come on, Assumpta. Hold it ... "

The snow leopard sighed and held out her paws.

The squirrel placed the little creature on her open paw-pads. And smiled. "Aw ... see? It likes you."

The creature went ... "gurgle-goo ... gurgle-goo" ...

"Are you planning on keeping it?" The snow leopard head-tilted. Eye-squinted. She raised and lowered her powerful paws (gently), as if taking the creature on a little ride.

"As a pet, you mean? Mm ... well, I could." A bright smile. "Haven't had a pet in, like ... forever. Used to have a bird ... way back when. This parrot thing ... when you're a squirrel, and you're raised in the trees, you ... usually wind up with a bird for a pet. Sooner or later."

"Predators do not have pets." Assumpta gave the creature back to Juneau.

"Why not?" A curious look.

A hesitation. The snow leopard looked away, eyes blank. "We always kill them."

The squirrel's whiskers twitched.

"Not on purpose, but ... instinctually, it's ... we're hunters. Non-sentient creatures are ... food. They are tools ... they ... " A clearing of her throat. "We do not have pets," she repeated. A pause. "But I am ... I was banished from predatory society. I do not agree with the methods behind their madness, as it were. You need not fear me."

A warm, little smile. And the squirrel tilted her head, nose sniff-twitching. Ears swiveling. "I've known you for ... what, a year and a half? More? You're my friend, Assumpta," she said quietly. "I'm not afraid of you."

Assumpta eye-smiled (in that way she did). "What are you going to name it?" she asked, of Juneau's newfound pet.

"Don't know ... mm ... the bird I used to have, she was named Delenn. But that's a femme's name. I don't know if this thing is male or female." A slight giggle. "I suppose I could look, but ... it's, like, a perfect ball of fluff. Don't know where to start."

"Use a scanner."

"Oh, I did. That's how I found out about it's energy-feeding, but ... this thing isn't a normal mammal. I mean, for all I know, it's asexual ... "

"It reproduces ... on its own?" A blink.

"Yeah. Seems most likely." A pause. A shake of her head, biting her lip ... whiskers twitching. "Bummer for the ‘gurgle-goo,' huh? No yiff?" And Juneau looked to Assumpta. Grinned. "Don't think I could survive ... "

"Nor could most of our crew-furs."

"Could you?" A teasing glance.

The snow leopard coyly took a breath. "I am a fur," was her response.

A bright giggle, the squirrel raising her muzzle to the light canopy of the sparse, leafy trees. The deciduous trees. It was deep into the summer, and the air was warm. "Mm ... that's a ‘no,' then." Juneau returned her gaze to the feline's. "How much a fur ... ?"

"What?" A blink.

"How much a fur ... like, I know some pairs around here ... that are furs, like, three times a day. If you get my drift." A grinning giggle. "Now, I don't have that kind of stamina, you know. With me and Chester, it's, uh ... " She trailed, wondering why she was talking about this. She didn't know. "With us, it's ... one and done, you know? We need twenty-four hours to recharge, you know. So, once a day ... I mean, I don't lament that, cause it's, mm ... I'm sated, you know. Once a day, but ... it hits the mark ... mm ... every time," she whispered, eyes glazing.

The snow leopard just looked at her. "I see," she said.

"So, uh ... " A little nod. "What about you?"

"What about ... "

"Come on, Assumpta. I just told you ... you gotta tell me. How many times a day are you ... ‘a fur' ... "

"I am a fur twenty-four hours a day."

"That's not what I mean. You KNOW that ... Assumpta ... " A giggle. "Shy?"

A sigh. "I am a fur ... twice a day."

"Wow ... nice." Juneau smiled. "Mm ... " A giggle.

"But what I find more interesting is not how often furs are ‘being furs,' but ... the intensity in which they ... play."

"What do you mean?"

"For instance, there is no one in this settlement who does NOT know ... when Pyro and Soldotna are ... "

"Yeah. He has a bad tendency to ... well, howl."

"He is a wolf."

"Yeah ... guess he can't help it. But, I mean, I guess ... we're all doin' it. We all know we're all doin' it, so ... so what if we happen to hear it ... but I, uh, try to be quiet about it. Not too hard. Rodents aren't too noisy. Unless you consider chitters and squeaks to be noisy."

"I do not." Assumpta's mate, of course (Azure), was a squirrel.

Juneau padded around a bit, and ... kneeled down. To her knees, and then ... shifted a bit. Sat on her rump, tail flagging behind her. Legs spread out before her, flat on the ground, and ... she eventually went to a lie-down in the grass and soil. Staring upward at the dappling light. Holding the ‘gurgle-goo,' as she was content to now call it ... in her paws. On her belly. Where it went "whistle-coo ... gurgle-goo" ...

Assumpta stood ... for a while longer. And then sat. Realizing that the squirrel wished to have a lazy chat. After all, neither of them had anywhere to be right now. No pressing matters.

"Sometimes, I get antsy," Juneau admitted, closing her eyes.

"Antsy?"

"I'm ... an engineer, Assumpta. I mean ... so are you, I guess." The snow leopard was a multi-purpose officer. Specializing in no one area, but ... generally, she worked for Juneau's engineering team. "But ships, technology ... I love to tinker. I love toys." A smile. "Just ... and the ship's just parked out there. This beauty. She's ... a beauty, you know? There's never been a ship like her."

"I have never understood," Assumpta observed softly, "why the ship is a ‘her'."

"She just is." A smile, and an airy exhale. "She just is ... but ... you know, I'm trying to settle. We're gonna be here for a while. Maybe forever. I don't know. We need a home, and this is our home, and I'm a squirrel. I need nature. We're all furs, and we all NEED ... nature. But ... part of me misses being in space. Hearing that hum. You know, the hum of the warp core? The glow? And ... how the ship purred."

Assumpta listened. Angular ears swiveling ... swiveling. Snowy-white and grey-striped fur reflecting the light. Contrary to Juneau's earthy-brown fur, which absorbed it. Causing the squirrel, in this heat, to lightly sweat. Assumpta was sweating, too, but ... it didn't show as much ... with her. She was so graceful.

"I walk back to Luminous every other day." The ship was constantly staffed with a skeleton crew. About eighteen of the eighty-three furs. The furs took shifts ... to stay aboard her. And, the rest of the time, they lived in the settlement here. Though Wren was aboard Luminous more than any other fur. He had the hardest time letting go.

"She looks she wants to be flown. Wants to fly. Wants to soar." A sigh. "Mm ... my mate's a pilot, so ... you know, we're both ... it's so ... like a dichotomy, you know? We're furs. We're OF nature. Born ... in nature. It's in our blood. We need it, and yet ... my job, my love ... is to engineer and design things. To work with technology. The organic and the mechanic. They can't really ... be entirely reconciled. I mean, they're hardly the same."

"They're not necessarily all that different," was Assumpta's observation.

"No?"

"Mechanical components ... often work in the same vein as ... organic ones. Machines are like bodies. They have parts. They have systems. They require energy. Perhaps it is the dichotomy, as it were, that attracts you to technology."

"Perhaps," was Juneau's thoughtful whisper. Eyes half-open. Spotting wispy clouds through the tree-tops. Though the green, green leaves.

Assumpta breathed. And purred. "At first, I was ... wary," she said, "of living in a temperate environment."

"Luminous was temperate. The climate and all ... "

"But it was regulated. A neutral, regulated environment. And I come from the ice ... and to live in a place with all four seasons, and with ... such heat," she said, "as this summer has given." The days, recently, had been in the 90's. "I found a tick in my fur ... yesterday."

"Just one? I found TWO ... my blood ran COLD, I can tell you." A shiver. "Parasites ... you know, and I see one there, and I wonder, ‘how long's it been on me' ... and I know it must've been sucking my blood before I spotted it ... makes me woozy."

"I am sure Denali has the capacity to treat any diseases ... "

"If you catch them in time." A pause. "I guess that's technology's failing. We create it, so ... it's only as good as we are. And as weak as we are, too. In some ways, anyway ... "

"In the tundra, there are no ticks." And an itchy arch. "And no fleas," she added, frowning.

Juneau, head lazily lolling to the side, squinting at the sitting feline in the mid-morning light, said, "You took your flea medicine, right?" Another thing about not living aboard a ship. About living on a planet ... not just the heat (and having a furry pelt in 90-degree weather), but fleas. They were inevitable. Every fur got them. "You have to put it on the back of your neck, on your nape, and it goes to the skin beneath and spreads ... it keeps them off."

"I put it on," she assured, sounding ... aggravated. She didn't scratch, though.

"Well, you can try another dosage."

"Perhaps the fleas are becoming resistant."

A giggle. "Mm ... they ARE stubborn. But, then, most living creatures are. Us included. Mm ... " A pause. "Yeah, the bugs will go away when it gets colder. You'll like the winter, I'm sure, but ... I think the rest of us are dreading summer's end. It's, like ... you know, it's like heaven. If you ignore the rampant shedding. Got mouse and squirrel hairs ALL over my clothes."

"Heaven ... shedding, yes. And ticks and fleas and constant sweating and ... "

A giggle. "Stop it ... will you? I never struck you for an outright pessimist."

"I am not pessimistic. I was simply ... trying to be sarcastic."

"Trying?"

"Sometimes, I try," Assumpta acknowledged.

"Mm ... well, that was a pretty good shot, but ... your tone was too level. You sounded too serious." But, then, the predator often did. "You have to exaggerate the tone of your voice. And then the sarcasm will come across. But," Juneau added, taking a deep, muggy breath ... the air was getting muggier as the day inched along. "But, if you want my opinion, sarcasm isn't very flattering, so I wouldn't try to master it ... "

An appreciative nod. "I will keep that in mind."

Juneau smiled. Paws feeling the gurgle-goo ... she'd almost forgotten it was on her belly. It wasn't making any sounds. But it was vibrating very slightly. Like ... subdued purrs. "I think gurgle-goo's asleep," Juneau realized.

"Apparently, you ‘tuckered it out'."

A giggle at Assumpta's usage of words. "Yeah ... guess so ... " A breath. "It's feeding off our neural output as we speak, though. Siphoning little percentages of our energy ... to feed on."

"Then it is a parasite, as well," was the snow leopard's conclusion.

"A friendly one. A harmless one. But ... yeah, I guess so," the squirrel admitted. Paws cupped over the gurgle-goo ... which had probably been lulled to sleep by her breathing. Her rising, falling belly. Her heartbeat.

Quiet. A breeze ... birdsongs. Fresh air. Softly lilting, ebbing around their ears. Taunting their noses.

Juneau sighed. "Oh, I could ... lay here forever," was her dozy whisper. "I don't know. I'm ... half the time, I'm content to stay here ... forever. Just ... and the other half, I'm itching to be back on the ship," she repeated. "Sometimes, I want something to do."

Assumpta nodded quietly.

"See, like Field and Adelaide and ... your mate, Azure ... and ... all those artistically-minded furs, they're just ears over tail, you know. They spend all day writing stories and poems, painting ... using the holo-cameras ... taking pictures. Doing ... art. You know? Art. But I'm not artistic. I'm not a dreamer, necessarily. I'm more grounded. I'm ... so, it's harder for me. To just have ALL this time. Plus, I'm a rodent, and ... I'm built to scurry. From danger. From fear. I'm not designed to sit still. I'm always at a twitch." A sigh. "But I wish I was one of those furs who had that artistic spark. It seems to make them so happy, and it ... I don't know," she confessed, whiskers twitching. Another sigh.

"You are not the only fur who is having a hard time settling," Assumpta reminded her.

"No, but ... I still feel bad, you know? This is the best thing for us. This is what we need. And I'm antsy."

"Perhaps you need to ‘be a fur' more often ... perhaps you can have Denali give you ... "

A giggle ... " ... aphrodisiacs? To help my mood cycle back more quickly? Mm ... " A closing of her eyes. "Don't think I wanna mess with pills and stuff ... no, I just need some rest. I'm so wired. I'm a squirrel. I'm so wired," she repeated.

"Azure is an arboreal gymnast," Assumpta said. "Perhaps you could try that."

"Arboreal gymnastics?"

"Acrobatics and exercises in the ... "

" ... trees, yeah. I'm a squirrel," she said (again). "I just ... that takes grace and focus, and ... "

"Focus," Assumpta echoed. "Often, being ‘antsy' is the result of ... a lack of focus. Focus your energies and desires ... and you will be happier."

"Mm ... well ... I could try."

"I will ask him to instruct you."

"Mm ... well, okay ... " An exhale. "Maybe it'll help."

"I find that it is pleasant to wander. To walk. To take in all the scents. To track things."

"Track? Like, hunt?"

"I do not hunt ... I track. I turn off my mind, and let my instincts ... lead me through the forest. I have no destination in mind when I start, and when I am done ... I feel ... refreshed."

A quiet nod. "It's a blessing, really. To have this opportunity to rest and just ... live. I feel like I'm being ungrateful. Most of the furs are enjoying it. Are loving it. I guess I just feel guilty ... when I rest. I feel guilty. And don't ask me why," she said, anticipating the feline's question. "It's not rational." A weak smile. "Prey aren't ... rational, Assumpta."

"I am becoming more and more ... like you. Am I, therefore, to anticipate losing my rationality?"

A giggle. "Hmm ... well ... being able to tolerate us for as long as you have, I'm sure you must've lost it already."

"You say that sarcasm is unflattering. I believe that self-deprecation is unflattering, too ... you are not difficult to tolerate. You are a good fur, Juneau. All of you ... are good furs. Believe me ... when I say that prey have souls. Predators do not. For they sold theirs a long time ago."

Juneau was stark quiet ... and her whiskers twitched.

"I almost lost mine, but ... through the rest of you, and through Azure ... I was led back to it. My only task is to ... thaw it from the block of ice in which it's encased."

Juneau, eyes sincere, eyes soft ... looked, from her lie-down, at the sitting feline's eyes. "Well, I'm only happy to be a cause of ‘furry warming' ... " And a shy, spreading smile.

And Assumpta, purring ... eye-smiled back.

An impressed shake of the head. A slight shake of the head (for the squirrel's head was still using the grass as a pillow). "How do you do that? That eye-smile?"

"I do not know," was her response.

"Mm ... well, when you figure it out, teach me, okay?"

A warm nod.

And Juneau closed her eyes. Took a deep, deep breath. "Oh, I'm tired ... I wanna sleep. I could just fall asleep.

"You should go lie with your mate." The snow leopard's own mate was further in the forest, in the trees. Doing his exercises. Working up a furry sweat, no doubt, and tucking and tumbling through the air ... he was going to put on a private show for Assumpta ... later in the week. When he was confident enough about nailing all his routines.

"He's cataloguing birds with Field," Juneau said, of Chester.

"Really?"

"Mm-hmm ... birdwatching is one of Field's hobbies. He's trying to catalogue all the birds here. Mm ... and that's neat, you know? See, I wish I could ... find something to do like that. But ... anyway, Chester wanted to tag along ... "

"You love your mate very much ... "

A quiet nod. "Very," was her whisper. "I mean ... and that's why I would choose the planet over Luminous. In the end. Space is dangerous. I mean, nature can be dangerous, too, but ... I feel Chester's safer here ... than up there. You know? He was almost killed once, and ... I can't lose him, Assumpta." Her voice held a bit of ... desperation? "I can't ... down here, where all the trees and creeks and ... where the blue sky is. Down here, I feel I can keep him safe. On Luminous, in space ... I can't. And he's so happy, you know? A mouse in the fields, in the plains, and ... the woods? He's so, so happy, and it's ... it gives such joy to my heart. He loves being in nature."

A quiet nod.

"You know, I think I will try to ... take up arboreal gymnastics. Spend more time in the trees. I'm a squirrel. It ... would do me a lot of good. Help me settle. To feel limb and bark under paw. To bump and grind with gravity."

"I will tell Azure to teach you," she repeated. "I believe part of your problem ... is that you've been in space for so long, and been ... enclosed in a technological society for so long," the snow leopard observed, "that you have forgotten how to be a fur-and-blood creature. Forgotten your natural instincts. Forgotten how to just sit and breathe. You must unplug yourself from the technology ... and poke your nose around. If you don't, you may miss all the wonders ... that, daily, surround."

A little smile. "Yeah," was her whisper. "Easier said than done. Technology's an addiction. You know? We NEED it ... we USE it ... but when do we become so reliant on it ... that we can't live without it? Not because it's a need, but ... just because we use it to fill the holes inside us? To distract ourselves from other things? I don't know ... I'm an engineer, and I'm only twenty-two, so I'm still young, but I've devoted so many years already ... to delving into technology. Losing myself in it. And, in the process, I guess ... you're right, you know ... I guess I forgot how to do the same things with nature. Forgot how to delve and lose myself in nature."

"As you said: dichotomy."

A sigh. "Mm ... we're thinking WAY too much, Assumpta. It's too warm and sunny a day to be thinking on such levels." A pause. A breath (through twitching, flaring nose). "Let's talk about yiff again ... much more fun," the squirrel decided, "to talk about yiff. Less taxing, too."

"That is true ... "

"So ... alright, it's just us girls ... we're talking yiff. So ... you HAVE to answer."

"Answer what?" A wary brow-raise.

"Well, whatever questions I come up with ... like ... " A giggle. A slight flush. "Okay, okay ... sheathed or sheath-less?"

A blink.

"Mm?" the squirrel prodded, grinning now.

"I assume you are talking about the male ... "

" ... thing. Yes, the male ... "

" ... thing," Assumpta breathed. "Mm ... my answer is biased. My mate is a rodent."

"Heh ... yeah. So's mine, so ... we're both for sheath-less." All male rodents had their sheaths removed at birth ... for religious reasons (primarily), and for sanitary purposes, too ... but with the non-rodent prey species (and all male predatory species), the sheaths were kept. It was just the rodents who got them cut ... " ... but I like it. You know, it's ... smooth, pink, and ... clean. All raw and bare, and ... so cute." A giggle. "Mm ... sheaths only get in the way of what I want."

"Which is?" An eye-grin.

A chuckle from Juneau. "Mm ... anyway, they don't mind, either," she said, of the male rodents. "Chester's never complained. Of course, he has no comparison as to how it would feel ... WITH a sheath, but ... his faith is very important to him."

"Mice are very religious ... "

"Well, they're very ... innocent, you know? Very ... gentle, emotional. They're well-suited for faith. And with their anxiety and all, they ... need it. It's a great source of comfort and hope to them ... life after death, and ... salvation, and ... you know?"

"Is it a great source of comfort and hope ... for you?" Assumpta questioned. She knew that many of the squirrels were religious, too. Ketchy, for one, was very religious. Assumpta, herself, had adopted the Christian faith ... but couldn't declare herself as devout. However, she had observed that some crew-members (most notably: Wren and Juneau) ... would claim to belong to the faith, but ... there was doubt in their eyes.

"We're straying from the topic," Juneau said.

"I am sorry ... " Assumpta trailed.

"I believe," Juneau insisted. "I believe it. I just ... like, Chester and Field and Adelaide and all them ... they REFLECT it. And I don't. It's not that I don't want to, and ... you know, I DO believe," she insisted. "But I'm just ... I'm not an artist. I'm not able to see the beauty in it all, and the poetry of it ... it's just a belief. I have it. I keep it. And ... that's it."

"So, you could live without it?"

"No ... no, but ... I don't know. I wish I could be that child-like," was her admittance. "To believe with such bright eyes, and such ... joy. But I'm too wired, through engineering, into science, and I ... it's hard for me to bury myself in things I can't readily see or understand." A pause. "But I ... how I wish I could ... " She went quiet.

"Your faith is no less ... than anyone else's. All you have to do is believe."

"But I want to do more than believe. I want to ... glow. Be bright as yellow. I want to feel God in each breath. That kind of purity. That kind of ... calm. I look in my mate's eyes, and ... I see it. I see THAT. And I wish I could ... drink him up. My mate, that is, and ... I'm addicted to his light. I just ... wish that I, too, could glow like that, and ... " A shake of her head. A frustrated sigh! "Mm ... I don't know, Assumpta. It's ... anyway ... " A trail. "Sheath-less. We both prefer sheath-less."

"Yes," was the snow leopard's agreement.

"Mm ... " A slight smile. Still on her back. In the grass. And dozier than before. The gurgle-goo still asleep on her belly ... " ... mm ... oh, hey ... I've never asked you this, but ... sometimes, I hear Azure whisper ‘gataki' to you ... is that, like, a pet name?"

"It is an alien word."

"Meaning?"

" ... kitten."

"Aw! That's SO cute ... he calls you kitten. That's so sweet ... "

"I suppose."

Juneau smiled. Sighed. "Mm ... Chester calls me ‘darling' ... I love it. ‘Darling.' It's so ... I don't know. Traditional? It's so ... I don't know." A sigh. As she opened and closed her eyes. Hearing, in her mind, the black and white mouse's voice ... seeing his patched fur. Feeling him ... touching her. "Oh, gosh ... I'm making myself yiffy. Talking about all this ... " A giggle. "But it's too much fun to stop talking about, so ... alright, you have a go."

"A go?"

"We're two femmes talking yiff ... yeah, and I've been ... providing all the points of discussion. You start something. Like, ask me something, or ... make an observation. And we'll expound on it."

The snow leopard frowned a bit ... " ... mm ... favorite position?"

"Ooh, that's a classic question. Heh ... I didn't ask, cause I thought it was too obvious to ask, but ... alright, I'll bite." A grin. "Well ... "

And, so, the morning went on. Assumpta and Juneau in the grass, chatting idly (with the gurgle-goo asleep on Juneau's belly). To be young and bone-idle and faced with all these dichotomies!

Oh, but there was nature ... and ...

... oh, there were friends and mates ... and gurgle-goos and faith!

Every burden had its balm.