What happens when humans are so pack-bonded that even other species start acting like them? The same willingness and madness you'd see from a human instilled into a havenworlder,
Would they really be a havenworlder anymore? -- Anon Guest
Humans will pack-bond with anything. This is known. They will back bond with other intelligent life forms so hard that the pack-bonding works both ways. This has been fatal to some. This has been life-saving to many. For most, though, it just is until such a time as the Galactic in question realises that they have become, wholly and completely, a fellow member of some Human's pack.
Some people never greet this information well.
Companion Thriq was good at their job. They were a very good Companion to Ships' Humans and the rare Human population that was trusted to run relatively loose on stations. They had an encyclopaedic recall for faces, names, familial attachments, allergies, and all the little peculiarities that went with knowing Humans for more than a handful of consecutive minutes.
They were currently in charge of a nest of them that had been adopted by Waybytrade Station. Humans were useful to have around when periodic Vorax raids made daily life border on the impossible. So far, the entire group of Humans were amenable to the informal arrangement of all adopted Human Nests. Put simply, it went something like, "We help you out when you need it and you help us out when we need it."
It was always something of a shock when the Humans revealed they spoke some degree of GalStand. Twice so if they spoke complete GalStand and not merely GalSimple. This revelation had happened months ago, and now there was a designated meeting zone where one side or the other would go to initiate some form of negotiations.
Thriq used it for food and medical deliveries. Many of the Humans in this nest didn't trust Galactic Medicine. Not yet. They preferred to get supplies and tend to each other, which wasn't always successful. This time, Thriq noticed their personal anomaly.
They were adding little treats into the supply containers for the Humans they liked.
Small red fruit for Human Skot, because that Human liked them. The specific variety of theobromine supplement that Human Krez preferred. The little crackers in the shape of aquatic life forms that Human Wen enjoyed.
This wasn't just a supply run. This was a care package.
They'd bonded.
"Aaah, flakk," they muttered.
Thriq had been through this before. There would plausibly come a time when they would be perfectly willing to risk their life, even lay it down, for a Human under their care.
This was why. This was why these Deathworlders were simultaneously so useful and so dangerous. Most species with sense viewed their own lives as one of the essential ones to save, but Humans? Humans had self-sacrifice coded into their DNA. The needs of the many, they said, outweighed the needs of the few.
Pack bonding. Pack mentality. Pack benefits, but...
Thriq wondered, sometimes, if their status as Honorary Human wasn't all that honorary after all.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / NiDerLander]
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