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Chapter Four
Upon closer inspection, there were subtle differences
between the shape of the ark and the sea-going cockroaches fossilized in the
earth’s crust. The vessel, which
looked like a monstrous trilobite, was based upon a more recent denizen from
their own solar system: a colossal, yet harmless creature who could live for
centuries, burrowing and rising periodically as a Phoenix from the sand.
In
the universe they were exploring the beasts they had seen on this planet were
quite unique. New and totally
different orders of life had been observed on this world, the strangest and
largest animals they had ever seen. They could not imagine what other diverse
horrors lurked in its forests, slithered in its waters, and flew in its toxic
air, but a clear and dreadful picture of the great meat-eater was imprinted on
their collective minds. They had
all witnessed from their viewing screens its exit during touchdown on this
planet. The questions plaguing
some of them now were “Would he come back?” and “Would the great meat-eater or
the other denizens of this planet leave them alone?”
In
spite of the awe-inspiring and terrible appearance of tyrannosaurus rex, the
students, technicians, and ship’s crew had seen it flee before the shadow of
their ship. The symbolism of this
event, which the professor tried to downplay, had given most of the children
and crew a feeling of superiority over the quaking life forms running from the
advance of their ship. The aliens
had also experienced the calm around the vessel, and were certain that their
successful trap and stunners, which they were being trained to use, would make
them invincible against this planet’s creatures, when the professor knew very
well that traps would never capture really large creatures and that their
weapons had not been tested enough to make such a claim. Both Doctor Arkru and Falon, the ship’s
commander, agreed that the quiet surrounding the ark was a physical not an
emotional phenomena, caused by the massive electronic devices attached to the
vessel and the homing device continually sending out coordinates to the mother
ship in space.
As
they made preparations to disembark, Falon scolded the professor for his
optimism: “You have much faith in your students Doctor Arkru, but you forget
that they’re still children. Their parents, who stayed behind on our dying
world, want them to be educated by the great scientist and collector
Arkru. They didn’t expect them to
be risking their lives this way.
Though you arm them for their own protection, most of them are too
immature to handle this responsibility.
I see the spirit of the Old Ones burning in Rifkin and Rezwit’s
eyes. I see disaster in this
unknown world, if these children are not supervised by adults.”
“You’ll
see how capable my students are, Falon,” the professor replied amiably.
“They’ll be in their crawlers most of the time. I can’t imagine our stunners not protecting them against
these dim-witted brutes.”
“Those
crawlers move like sand bugs over the ground,” Falon chided him gently. “You’re
relying on one test trap and the apparent success of a stunner that hasn’t been
tested on this world.” “This isn’t Raethia, Beskol, or Orm,” he reminded Doctor
Arkru, “this is Irignum—a planet the likes of which none of our people have
ever seen!”
Falon
made the professor promise to scrap this entire mission if it proved to be too
dangerous for his students. It was
a promise that the professor did not want to share with the students but
admitted to Zorig, his second-in-command, as he and his technicians prepared the
vehicles in the ship’s hold for today’s expedition.
“Ibris and Tobit,” he ordered his technicians,
“place the extra air canisters and emergency equipment in Crawler Four’s
hold. Crawler One, Two and Three’s
holds will be used for small creatures, if we catch any today.”
“Will
we really have time to capture animals today?” Ibris inquired, as he and Tobit
began loading canisters into Crawler Four’s hold.
“Yes,”
answered Arkru, watching them at their work, “if the opportunity arises. But the students actually start
collecting tomorrow. They’ll concentrate
on walking around in Irignum’s jungle and will familiarize themselves more with
the stunner today. That’s why you
and Tobit are coming with me.
Don’t forget, you’re both being trained too.”
“Why
do we have to be trained?” asked Tobit, his face drawing into a pout. “We’re technicians, not explorers. Why can’t we stay on the ship?”
“I
explained that to you, Tobit.” Arkru said with a flicker of irritation. “I need
help controlling the students. I can’t do this by myself.”
“You’ll
drive my crawler.” He turned to Zorig next. “Give me your oath,” he said,
taking the chief technician aside,
“that if something happens to me today or tomorrow, you’ll make sure the
students and technicians return safely to the ship.”
“But
this world’s safe,” Zorig replied in disbelief. “Nothing dares approach our
vessel. We were unmolested in the
meadow surrounding the ship.”
“Trust
me Zorig,” Arkru patted his head. “It’s our ship’s electronics that keep
creatures away, not the magic of the Old Ones or any other mystical nonsense
filling my students’ heads. If the
creatures grow used to these vibrations, we’ll lose the protective buffer
around our vessel. There can be no
lasting safe zones on this world.”
The
technicians, under the professor’s supervision, continued loading the crawlers
with the equipment required for a day’s trip into the jungle. Traps,
calibration tools, darts, nets and various sized containers for small animals
and plants were placed into each vehicle’s hold. The crawlers’ control panels, batteries
and headlights were checked, the vehicles’ tracks were greased, and, as an
afterthought, general first aid kits, that would be useless for aliens wearing
airtight life support systems, were placed into each hold.
During
the technicians’ labors, the students began suiting themselves up in their life
support systems with the aid of the ship’s crew. Their life support systems had all been cleaned and supplied
with fresh canisters of air. The
professor and Zorig were not able to join them in the decontamination chamber
until the students were almost done.
Rifkin, Rezwit, and Vimml already had their helmets fastened on. Zither, as the helpful team leader, had
assisted Illiakim and Zeppa into their suits but was having trouble with his
own. Only Urlum, among the
technicians, looked forward to the excursion; Zorig, Ibris and Tobit had mixed
emotions about today.
Because
he had gained so much weight those long months in space, the suiting-up
procedure took longer for the professor.
After they stuffed him into his life support system, his face was
flushed and he was perspiring greatly inside his suit. To revive him, the crewmembers hastily
turned on his air-conditioning system.
Arkru’s helmet fogged up momentarily but quickly cleared as the system
began to work.
As
a sudden rush of cold air dried his face, the professor gave the students and
technicians last minute instructions on reading their gauges, a lecture they
heard yesterday when they first set foot on this world. The most important gauges for survival,
he reminded them, were the indicators for system integrity, gas level and vital
signs. If there was a problem with
their readings, a student would be taken immediately back to the ship. Doctor Eglin, the ship’s medic and
Varik, his assistant, entered the chamber during Arkru’s lecture to check their
life support systems and make sure their vital sign monitors were hooked
up. Between the professor’s
babbling and the doctor’s dabbling, the students became a captive audience. They were especially trapped now that
they were weighted down in their cumbersome suits. Locked in the decontamination chamber, they had no place to
go. Those not dozing or grumbling
irritably inside their helmets were clunking around nervously in the chamber as
they waited to disembark.
Although
the jungle appeared beast-free on the aft viewing screen, Commander Falon
remained apprehensive about today.
An unimpressive assortment of lizards and insects had ventured up to the
ship as it sat idly on the meadow.
A trio of small, long legged scaly creatures, the students recalled, had
stumbled into their trap. But no
large creatures had approached them, and there was no sign of beasts even
distantly in the meadow surrounding the ship. Nevertheless everyone, including the professor, was jittery
about this trip.
At
the last moment, almost as an afterthought, today’s history-making safari into
Irignum’s jungle was announced from the bridge. Even though Commander Falon mentioned the event grimly over
the intercom, the children cheered the sudden announcement. Yorzl, Lumnal and Zeppa jumped up and
down with glee, clapping their gloves together as children often do, squealing
with delight. Most of the older
students, Zither included, displayed a mixture of excitement, anxiety, and
fear. Rifkin, Rezwit, and Vimml,
of course, could not wait to bag themselves a beast.
******
For
their first excursion in the crawlers, Doctor Arkru’s class would proceed down
the ramp on foot. While they
waited beneath the ship, the technicians would bring the crawlers down
one-by-one. Doing it this way
reduced potential stress on the ramp.
In reality, however, all the stress was placed upon the professor as he
maintained order among the group.
As they stood below the belly of the ark in expectation of the adventure
ahead, the students became unruly.
As usual Rifkin, was at the center of the rowdies, with Rezwit, Grummel,
and Vimml following his lead.
Zither could not control Vimml, but Illiakim and Zeppa, because of their
anxiety, hung close by their leader, each one latched onto one of his gloved
hands.
Rifkin was so busy showing off he ignored his team
entirely. Arkru found Yorzl
huddled with Zither’s team members.
Lumnal hovered anxiously around Omrik and Shizwit, who were not even on
his team. Alafa joined in with the
boys as they pretended to fire off their deactivated stunners at imaginary
enemies among the group.
After
coaxing and threatening his students, Arkru managed to separate most of them
into their designated teams, but virtually all of them continued to fidget,
complain, and tease each other or jump and down with glee. Rifkin was taking aim at the back of
Alafa’s head, and Vimml, who borrowed Rezwit’s assigned gun, was shooting at
imaginary monsters as he stood with his team. Falon, who sat on the bridge beside Orix, his navigator,
watched the ramp monitor, dismayed by what he saw.
“What
sort of nonsense is this?” Orix observed in disbelief. “They’re playing games
with their stunners!”
“What
else do you expect, Orix?” Falon sighed, zooming in on Rifkin’s face. “They’re
children. Nothing can change that
fact. I don’t care what the professor says!”
As
the first crawler was driven down the ramp by Zorig, the group cheered loudly
and wildly. The professor walked
forward, arms outstretched, clunking as would a twentieth century moonwalker in
his gear, as he welcomed the first vehicle for the teams. Doctor Arkru was in an ebullient mood. As before, he carried a gun on each hip
and a pouch around his helmet to place samples in. After climbing out of crawler number four, which was the
professor’s vehicle, Zorig plodded on foot back up the ramp. Soon the remaining crawlers were driven
down the ramp, one-by-one by the technicians—Zorig bringing down the last—and
parked side by side below the ship.
Once more the students cheered and bounced up and down with excitement
as the procession was brought to an end.
Rifkin, who had the loudest voice, began singing a bawdy song. Vimml and Rezwit were at this minute
boasting to Shizwit how their teams would bring back the most beasts.
“Students,”
Arkru shouted testily, “I’m losing my patience with you! This will all be done orderly. As I explained on the ship, all team
leaders will drive the vehicle with his team’s number painted on its hood. You recall that two students sit in the
front seat and two in back. I want no mischief on this trip!”
Crawler
Number One was correspondingly filled by Rifkin and Team Number One. At a point, indicated by the professor’s
outstretched arm, Rifkin drove a short ways from the ship and sat there
excitedly, waiting with his team.
Crawler Number Two and Three likewise followed, with Zither and Rezwit’s
respective teams filling them quickly and the team leaders parking beside Crawler
Number One.
The
last vehicle, Crawler Number Four, though the last numerically and the last one
down the ramp, would lead the caravan into the forest. The professor climbed in next to Zorig,
the driver. Urlum, Ibris, and
Tobit squeezed into the back seat, which the professor had said was intended
for only two. After making sure
they were all clear of the ramp and ready to go, Falon pressed a button on the
control panel. The ramp rose
slowly back up into the belly of the ship.
“Izmir
go with them!” he murmured to Orix.
“Izmir
go with us all!” replied the
navigator with a sigh.
******
Standing
vigil with the commander, the officers and crew members, who were important
members of the mission, themselves, watched through the ramp monitor and the
aft viewing screen, as the safari, earth’s first alien explorers, headed toward
Irignum’s dark mantle of trees. A
haze from the northern volcano had begun to drift over the sky. After emerging from the shadow of the
ship and turning due west, the safari was directly visible from the
bridge. It struck the adults as
preposterous that children were up to such a task. As tiny silhouettes seen in the vast dark body of the ark,
the officers of the ship stared out upon this alien world, both envious and
fearful for the young explorers heading into the unknown.
That
moment, as he settled back in this seat, the professor declared stout-heartedly
“We’re on our own now!” “Onward
Zorig,” he barked excitedly, “I will point to you where to go!”
The
caravan, at Arkru’s signal, stopped at the test trap. The professor stood up precariously in the vehicle and
motioned back at Alafa in Crawler Three to turn on the trap. Alafa jumped up excitedly and punched
the controller button to set the trap.
“All
right,” he motioned to Zorig, “let’s see what we’ll find in our test trap when
we return. Onward, outward, to the
jungle we go!”
When
they had driven across the meadow part way, the professor fired a couple of
practice shots into the air.
Because an electronic beam dissipated into empty space, it was the
safest direction to test a stunner, he explained to his startled students. No one else could do the same, of
course, since the professor had not passed out the keys, but Alafa pretended to
fire her gun at victims along the way, since Rezwit, her team leader, was
occupied driving the crawler.
As
they reached the edge of the forest, the professor spotted a beaten animal path
wide enough for the crawlers and motioned for Zorig to proceed. To a modern earthling such a beaten
path would have been reminiscent of the sort of paths created by the passing of
herds of American buffalo on the Great Plains or herbivores traveling through
the African savannah. Over a
period of years such a natural road offered passage to all of the forest’s
large creatures. In the coming
days the aliens would be able to use the animal paths as thoroughfares through
the meadows and forests of Irignum.
Everything seemed to be going their way, Rifkin and his colleagues
believed. Not only had their
mighty ship frightened the inhabitants of the surrounding forest away, but
there were ready-made roads laid out by the creatures, which made the conquest
of Irignum that much easier to do.
Zorig
was terrified as he led the safari into the forest. Everyone shared in his fear, except Rifkin, Alafa, and
Rifkin’s friends. Rifkin was
certain that when their stunners were activated, nothing would dare challenge
their passage through the trees.
After driving over a mile into the jungle, Zorig was ordered to halt. The professor again stood up. Shielding his wide feline eyes from the
glare of the morning sun flashing on his helmet, he searched the open space
ahead. The clearing in the jungle,
with an inactive cinder cone in its midst, stretched out endlessly in front of
them. The path they had been traveling
ended abruptly at an ancient lava flow.
It would be a rocky ride ahead if they attempted to negotiate the
clearing. The professor climbed
out of his vehicle and motioned for everyone else to do the same.
“What
are you doing?” Zorig asked, fearfully clutching the steering wheel with both
gloves.
“The
crawlers can’t go any further,” the professor explained calmly. “This should be
an excellent place to test out our stunners and begin collecting small creatures. We won’t have to go far from our
vehicles.” “Come-come, Zorig,” he
motioned congenially, “you don’t expect us to get anything accomplished sitting
in our seats.”
“Yes-yes,
I think we should stay in our seats!” a wide-eyed Tobit declared as he followed
Urlum hesitantly out onto the ground.
“Don’t
worry students,” the professor consoled them, “my stunners are armed and
ready. In addition to your guns,
three of my technicians were issued weapons too. I’ll give each of you a chance to fire your stunners. Nothing will harm us with our Class 4
Stunners pointed their way.”
“That’s
exactly what I’m afraid of,” Tobit murmured to Ibris. “What if these puny
little zappers fail to stop one of those big fellows? What will we do then?”
“Run!”
Ibris declared with great conviction in his voice.
From
the gently sloping hill on which they halted, the group could look out on the
jungle below and see several startling sights that seemed too far away to be a
threat. The heads of great
long-necked beasts poked up from the distant trees. They could also see strange squat-looking armored dinosaurs
ambling through the meadow eating the grasses here and there and several of those
duckbills they had seen in their viewing screens on the edge of the forest
reaching up on their tiptoes to snip off leaves.
The
professor realized it was time to pass out keys to students and technicians
issued stunners. The other
students knew that their chance would come, but Vimml felt cheated that the
much inferior Zither carried the weapon and not he. Had not the professor secretly given him charge of Team
Number Two?
******
Bravely
it seemed to many of his students, Arkru took the first step down the hill
toward the jungle clearing below.
Though weighted down like themselves, he carried an armed stunner on
each hip, reminding Rifkin and Rezwit very much of the Old Ones of yore. No one had noticed the small, wide lens
video camera on the rim of his helmet that would capture all of today’s events
in front of him: a one hundred and eighty degree arc of activity larger than
his range of vision. None of them,
for that matter, were suspicious that he was being particularly dramatic and
long-winded at this time. The
professor was in excellent form as he lectured them on the grandeur of the
jungle they passed through. With
his own magnificent voice narrating in the background, it was a perfect time
for him to record for the ship’s data banks their first exploration of
Irignum. They need not know what
he was doing; he wanted them to act naturally and not posture in front of the
camera.
This
time the group was much closer to the creatures’ habitats. They were, in fact, squarely in the
jungle. As they trekked beneath
its boughs, the forest’s denizens peaked out at them: reptilian, bird-like, and
dark disembodied beady eyes in foliage, as if wondering if the aliens were a
threat or sizing them up for a meal.
During
the Late Cretaceous of Northern Arizona, the air was thick with flies and gnats. All manner of serpent and insect
crawled on the ground. The humid
breeze, which they could not smell in their airtight suits, carried the
unmistakable odor of the first flowering plants and the buzz of the first
bees. In the clearing on which
they had landed, the aliens were witness to the first grasses of earth. They would soon glimpse the ancestors
of mice, kangaroos, and men, for unbeknownst to them, as they explored this
transitional world, were the furtive encroachment of
Earth’s
dominate orders. Mammals and birds
snuck through the forest, sometimes hiding in flowery bushes or eating the
pollen carrying flies, wasps, and bees.
In
the twilight of this primeval garden, ancient conifers, and cycads stood
alongside hardwood trees. Oak,
maple, and palm grew amidst giant seed-bearing ferns. The earliest roses grew wild alongside a myriad of other
flowers and more primitive plants.
Ancestral wheat and barley, which provided fodder for the herds of
horned dinosaurs, now carpeted all the meadows and fields on earth. Swarms of bees, wasps, and butterflies,
which had evolved to pollinate the earliest flowering plants, flew past the
slower moving dragonflies, who survived as relics of the past.
By
far the most interesting creatures Arkru had seen and captured on camera were
the furry and feathered ones, who seemed so much smarter than the dim-witted
brutes. Not for a moment would he
have believed that these creatures were more important than the monsters that
ruled this world. Although he
admired their beauty, he would never have guessed the significance of the
flowering plants sprinkled throughout the jungle green. The more advanced plants and animals
were eclipsed by the sheer size and numbers of the monsters and primeval
trees. As the mammals moved
furtively in the shadow of the dinosaurs and flying reptiles and the delicate
flowers grew in spite of the press of primordial plants, the newer species of
fauna and flora were nevertheless poised to inherit the earth.
The
early mammal’s descendents would one day give rise to bipeds much different
than themselves. New foods,
undreamed of by the current herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores, would
radiate and transform life. But
for now, in the eyes of the aliens and in the brutish minds of the monsters,
the dinosaurs reigned. Most of the
great forest was a dull, unchanging green. As unwelcome guests in a forbidden garden, the aliens must
contend with a planet defying all their scientific rules.
Flying
over their helmeted heads, casting its great shadow on their path as they
skirted the trees, was a giant bird-like reptile, which Arkru compared for the
record to the desert flyers they had discovered on Orm. Both species were carnivores, but the
flyers here on Irignum were at least ten times the size of the flyers found on
that other world.
A much smaller flyer could be seen perched on a
flowering bush, a sapling in its beak, its large crested head and multicolored
feathers a sharp contrast to the dull, silvery sheen of the scaly pterodactyls
and their kin.
“It
is clear,” Arkru told his students with amazement, “the flyer is taking the
twig to its nest. Like the mother
scoop-mouth it has a maternal instinct toward its young, which many of the
forest denizens probably don’t possess.
If this is so, what sort of parents will the intelligent furry ones
prove to be?”
Many
of the students, he sensed, didn’t care, but it was a matter of record
now. Everything, from this point
on, that he taped in the forest, was, in fact, part of the research and general
knowledge of the ship’s database.
Suddenly, as Arkru’s thoughts were divided between intellectual
curiosity and the search for an area to fire their guns, he froze in his
tracks. His voice likewise froze
in mid-sentence. Something all to
familiar loomed in the distance: a great leaping killer similar to the one
everyone saw that first day below the ship. Not suspecting that their leader had seen a monster ahead,
his students also stopped and looked trustingly up to Arkru, everyone that is
except Rifkin who was taking a practice aim at a small rat-like creature
peering down from its perch.
“Put
that in your belt at once!” Arkru snapped irritably at him.
Rifkin, who had been walking alongside of Urlum
instead of his own team, was quick to respond.
“That’s
not a toy!” Arkru chided him. “Put your curiosity to work finding me a good
rock for us to climb so we can get a better look at the forest!”
An
uneasy silence descended upon the students, as the professor appeared hesitant
and unsure of himself. As he
pulled his scope out of his belt and held it shakily up to his eyes, he could
see, with magnification, what he had only glimpsed before. The image was close enough for his
mini-camera to capture and, in fact, could be magnified when presented as a
hologram for the crew. With the
sudden cessation of narration into the data banks and the restive quiet,
punctuated by the hoots, whistles, and bleating of the jungle, it would seem
especially dramatic to an audience witnessing this part of the tape.
Through
the lens, the professor observed a distant gargoyle’s head, identical to the
one seen on their viewing screens.
His first concern was for the safety of his students. Regardless of what they had been
taught, the students normally panicked when they were afraid, everyone except
Rifkin, who plunged recklessly ahead.
They would probably be too petrified to shoot at a monster, where Rifkin
might shoot without hesitation if he thought something was a threat.
He
must therefore teach them not only how to shoot their stunners well but when to
shoot them and, in Rifkin’s case, when not to open fire. He tried not to show alarm as he looked
into his scope, but his students now sensed something wrong. Hands reached out impulsively to grab
the scope. He could also see fear
on his technicians’ faces. Even on
Rifkin, Rezwit, and Vimml’s faces, in fact, that boyish lust for adventure was
mixed with flashes of alarm.
Carefully
he brought their bulky-suited little bodies into a huddle to count heads and
also keep them from running back to the crawlers on the rim of the hill. All of his students and technicians
huddled close to him, all except Rifkin, who was straggling behind the others
again, playing with a dead bird.
“Put
that down,” he barked at Rifkin. “Stay with the group! All of you—that means you Rifkin—walk
hand-in-hand, two abreast. I have
to check something before we continue.
Stand firm a moment!”
Urlum
immediately took Rifkin’s hand while he dangled the dead bird, his attention
divided between science and the ‘fair sex.’ Scanning their trusting faces, his camera capturing it all,
Arkru now held up his fingers, motioning for the team leaders to be ready. In this way, he was asking them to use
their influence to keep the others together, but in effect he was alerting them
all to prepare for a hasty retreat.
Zither, like Zorig, was terrified.
Through
the scope, Arkru saw the gargoyle again.
It was no closer or any further away than before but seemed to be
lurking in the same spot, waiting for its next prey. The professor looked straight out upon the scene, hoping
that his camera would adequately record what his eyes could see. It was difficult for him to believe that
such a brute was capable of such clever thought, and yet, judging by the way
the beast cocked its massive head and hung expectantly in the shadows of the
trees, it almost appeared to be planning its next move. If that was so, what could that be?
Arkru wondered with dread. Could
the monster smell them this far away?
Would he turn around suddenly and charge down this animal-beaten path as
he had the previous day?
Arkru’s
stoic calm in the face of danger only convinced the junior leaders and the
others that something was wrong. Hands
reached out again for the scope, but this time in earnest. Several of the students were looking
longingly in the direction of the crawlers waiting for them on the hill.
“Lemme
see!” “No, lemme see!” Several of them demanded, jumping up and down excitedly
and reaching out with their little arms.
“Stop
that, all of you. Let’s keep our
heads,” Arkru said, holding the scope protectively in the air. “Rifkin, Rezwit,
and Zither,” he motioned irritably with his free hand, “we have to find a hill
or unoccupied tree to climb up onto for awhile.”
“I
saw a rock back there,” Rifkin pointed calmly. “Let Rezwit and me check it
out. We’ll call back from our
radios if it’s all right.”
“All
right, we’ll be right behind you.
But be careful boys,” Arkru called anxiously, as Rifkin pulled out his
gun. “You haven’t mastered that yet.”
As
quickly as possible, the professor checked all of the students’ stunners to
make sure they were activated. He
knew that Rifkin’s gun was ready, but Zither had not yet inserted his key. An incredible record of student
cooperation was being captured right now.
Watching Rifkin’s face brighten and Urlum’s grow pale, he realized how
much of an understatement his warning to the boys had been. Arkru trusted Rezwit the most right
now. He knew that Zither would
probably freeze before firing his weapon, whereas Rifkin would love to bag
himself a beast. Urlum knew this
too. In this case, it seemed obvious
who to trust most with a gun, as he watched Rifkin race toward the rock.
“Rezwit!”
he called hastily to Team Three’s leader. “You stay here with me to guard the
others, and let Rifkin and Zither go ahead. Your team did the best on the target range. You and Alafa walk behind the others
with your guns and give them cover until we reach the rock.”
He wished he had not recorded this in his video
journal. It would only antagonize
Rifkin and make Zither feel more inferior than he already felt.
There
had always been something different about Rifkin. It is what Urlum loved and what once made Arkru, as a
teacher, so proud. He had never
been like the others or himself. A
trace of the Old Ones lurked in his mind.
A recklessness that could be heroic or place them all in danger was
always there burning in his eyes.
Now it might be a liability.
Rezwit
and Alafa helped Arkru keep order as the group trudged to the rock. His technicians were as fearful as his
students, and yet Rezwit and Alafa were acting as protectors of the group. Although he was not a member of Team
Number Three, Vimml displayed a brave face now too. He would show everyone who was the real leader of Team Number Two.
Arkru
hoped that there would be safety on the rock, until the beast was out of range,
but there were countless other horrors in the forest watching their every
move. As Rifkin climbed up the
rock, the stunner held carelessly in one hand, Zither was so far behind him
that he panicked and began whimpering to himself as he plodded up its face.
“Damn
Rifkin!” he swore into his helmet. “This was his idea. I didn’t
want to do this!”
Anything
could happen in this nightmarish paradise, Arkru realized. A new type of monster could suddenly
grab Zither as he cowered at the bottom of the rock. One of those mysterious flying giants might swoop out of the
sky and nab Rifkin too. Although
there should be safety in numbers, they all seemed so insignificant against the
terrors of the jungle— everyone except Rifkin, who stood like a conqueror upon
the rock.
“Calm
down Zither,” Arkru called over the radio and into the record. “We can see
Rifkin from here. You can make it
too.” “Ho! The young fool is already on top! Rifkin, watch yourself up there!” he
shouted into his radio, as the remainder of the crew approached the rock.
Zither
was a poor example to follow. It
was an easy rock to climb, but it was jagged and threatened the integrity of
their suits. Arkru had trained
them to be careful with their equipment and outfits, but they had never had to
climb rocks to stay out of harm’s way.
They were beginning to panic now, which made them clumsy inside their
cumbersome suits.
By
now Rezwit and his able team were behind Zither, egging him on.
“What’s
the matter Zither?” Alafa sneered. “Is the fearless leader of Team Number Two
scared?”
Rezwit
felt sorry for him and uttered encouragement to the overly cautious Zither:
“There, that’s it, slow but steady—you can make it!”
“I’m
not afraid!” Vimml boasted to Omrik, who followed him up the rock.
“I
can see them! I can see them!”
Rifkin was shouting, waving his weapon in the air. “A big leaper! A bunch of those horny-heads. I bet they’re going to fight! Hurry! Hurry! It’s
about to begin!”
Zither
emerged finally beside his adversary, too relieved that he had made it up the
rock to be annoyed with Rifkin now.
“That
wasn’t very scientific Rifkin,” Zorig puffed and panted, as he helped his
sister to the top.
“Yes,”
Arkru, the last to arrive, said wryly to himself as looked back down to the
ground. “There’s established rules of nomenclature…. But none of us are acting very scientific today!”
As
they gathered shakily on top, with a growing awareness of how vulnerable they
were to the flying predators or any other monster able to scale this rock, the
students and technicians huddled close to the professor. The team leaders, Alafa, and the
technicians held their guns ready to protect the group from sudden attack. The professor grabbed Rifkin’s gun hand
and pointed it to the ground, motioning for the others to do the same. He wasn’t sure what frightened him the
most now: armed students or predatory beasts. There were enough hazards on this
precipice without being shot by one of his own students, and yet he realized it
was absolutely necessary that they were brandishing weapons when danger struck.
The
group peered down at the forest almost reverently now. It was the most solemn and silent
moment so far. The professor, like
the others, was filled with the mixed emotions of fear and awe. He was totally mute for the only second
time since they had landed on this world, both occasions generated by the great
predator first seen from the bridge.
Arkru was glad that the creature was in close enough range for the
camera. Nothing could have prepared
them for what they saw this moment in the jungle. Already, Arkru had seen in his scope the outline of the
beast stalking his prey. Rifkin
had actually seen the tyrannosaurus stumble into a triceratops herd. Now, for the benefit of the crew and
the professor’s hidden camera, the horned dinosaurs closed ranks, as would a
circle of wagons, around their young, and, by lurching forward as a group,
drove the giant killer away.
Nothing
could have prevailed against such an assembly. There must have been several dozen of them, Arkru
determined. But this was only a
small part of the vast herd stretching like modern buffalo across the more
distant fields. When the collector
looked beyond the circle of horned dinosaurs to the great assembly on the
plain, he could scarcely believe his eyes. Not only were they the most numerous dinosaurs on this planet,
but they were obviously the most successful. They reminded him of the dakka herds that roamed Raethia,
with the exception that the alien herbivores all had eight legs and would have
looked more like giant centipedes swarming on the plain.
During the twilight of the dinosaurs in Northern Arizona, savannas and
prairies had begun to replace lush stands of forest. Flowering plants and grasses, Arkru had already noted, were
growing in clearings and meadows, clashing with the primal forest. The jungle was speckled with a myriad
of colors and deepening shades.
From their vantage point, they could detect different ecological systems
in the distance, including snow capped mountains and a wide, treeless grassland
between.
The
great meat-eating machine, who could care less that he was trampling the
ancestors of modern emmer and corn, trumpeted his outrage but was clearly
outmatched by the triceratops herd.
“We
have to get one of those horny headed fellows!” Rifkin was now squealing with
delight. “Magnificent beasts!
Splendid fellows!”
“That
might be difficult,” Zorig snorted sarcastically. “If that monster can’t
get’em, what makes you think we can?”
“Nonsense!”
replied Rifkin, as he peered through the scope. “Those are gentle beasts. We’ll cull one from the group, like our
ancestors, the Old Ones, did with the dakkas. They remind me of the herds back on Raethia, except that the
dakkas have many legs.”
“The
dakka were much more stupid than those fellows,” Arkru observed, handing Zorig
the scope. “Look closely at the way they behave. With their young in the middle, they know they are safe from
the killer, and yet they are not so stupid that they’ll break ranks and charge. The
leaper must be hungry to try that!”
“We
could use one of our trap poles as a bomb to scare them,” Rifkin now suggested.
“After tossing one of those in the middle, they’d scatter like dakkas. We could trap one of the babies while
they were in flight!”
“Listen
Rifkin,” Arkru wagged a finger at him, “I know you love saying outlandish
things you don’t mean, but we don’t randomly use weapons on alien life anymore,
unless we’re threatened. That’s
the way of the Old Ones, not students collecting for science!”
“Well,”
Rifkin replied defensively “it would only be used as a last resort! We needn’t harm them; all we need to do
is make a noise.”
“We
have no idea yet what our weapons might do to creatures here.” Arkru
admonished. “Our stun guns might kill them outright or have no effect at all
and only make them mad.”
“Well,
I’d like to blast him!” Vimml declared with boyish enthusiasm, taking his turn
with the scope.
“Yes,”
Alafa boasted, “we’ll teach them not to trifle with us!”
Remembering
the history of his planet, Rifkin began chanting, “We’re the master race! We’re the master race!”
“Yes,
we wiped out the Rimmi!” Rezwit joined in, taking his turn with the scope now.
“The Rimmi were intelligent like us, but we destroyed them too!”
“And
the Furzi and the Modrit!” Rifkin added buoyantly. “We blew up their
planets—all of them. Now there
just meteorites and solar dust!”
“The
master race!” chanted Vimml. “No one trifles with us!”
“The
master race?” Arkru retorted scornfully, shaking his head in dismay. “We were never the master race. Have you boys forgot everything you’ve learned?”
During
their discussion, the predator turned away from the meadow. As it spotted prey in the distance, it
was soon in action again leaping through the forest with an unbridled and
reckless haste, momentarily blocked from their view until another, much smaller
clearing, came in sight.
A
wounded bonehead, a large plant-eater similar to the duckbills they had seen
but with a massive bony outgrowth on top of its head, stumbled into view. In a terrible and brutal moment, as the
tyrannosaurus bent down, bit down on its neck, and shook it violently, the
smaller dinosaur was dead and lying motionless at his feet.
Since
nothing dreadful had happened to them yet, the students and technicians had all
calmed down greatly on the rock.
Even Zither had relaxed his trigger finger and was totally engrossed in
what he saw. Although they were
close enough to see without it, the scope was passed continually back and forth
by several of the students. The
aliens now had an excellent vantage point for what lie ahead and could zoom in
on the gory details of the kill.
Whispering to each other, as if the giant killer might overhear, they
stood transfixed as the drama unfolded, their faint murmurs becoming gasps as
intruders entered upon the scene. Those who held guns placed them temporarily
in their belts as the professor and Zorig stood guard. Rifkin wanted now, more than ever, to
bag himself a beast.
“Look
Illiakim,” Zither tried warming up to one of his team members, “the leaper has
company. I’ve never seen those fellows
before!”
Illiakim,
who had accepted his leadership, gave him a wan smile.
They now saw other meat-eaters approach the kill
site, creatures that would one day be identified as the more intelligent
dromaeosaur, a much smaller, more agile carnosaur with a long stiff tail,
modest set of jaws, and long stabbing claws on its kangaroo-like arms and
legs. Also in the foreground of
the clearing were swarms bird-like and lizard-like scavengers that flew or darted
around the larger carnosaur’s kill, waiting for the crumbs. Several of the four-foot tall
spike-toed predators were now attempting to take the giant killer’s meal, but
were finding the larger predator unwilling to yield.
A
frightening scene followed, in which the dromaeosaurs and trumpeting carnosaur
were locked in mortal combat: an entire pack of dromaeosaurs against one
stubborn giant. The odds seemed to
favor the pack, and yet the larger meat-eater would not give ground. With its massive legs planted firmly on
the ground, its gargoyle head opening to expose six-foot spanning jaws, the
tyrannosaurus grabbed the first attacker in his mouth, while the second, third,
and fourth tried to jump onto his back.
A fourth and fifth attempted to bite its legs, tail, and side, while
trying to avoid its jaws. It was
clear to the aliens that the pack hunters had given up trying to frighten the
big killer away from his dinner and would be satisfied with eating it
instead. But the tyrannosaurus rex
shook off the attackers on its back, banging one senseless against a nearby
tree. It had bitten the first
dromaeosaur almost in half before another one was caught in its jaws. Soon, a pattern developed that the
aliens would see later in their exploration, in which a second and third wave
of the spike-toed predators were drawn as were sharks to injured prey.
The
sound of opportunity filled the jungle.
The smell of blood and death were pungent in the air. An incredible array of flesh-eaters and
scavengers waited on the sidelines or flew overhead in anticipation of the
end. But something remarkable
began happening that reminded the aliens and the other dinosaurs who ruled the
forest. Apparently given a second
wind, the great meat-eater, though torn and bleeding, began killing its
attackers one-by-one. After dispatching
a frontal attacker, it shook one off its back, held it down with his mighty
foot, and continued to lunge at attackers approaching from each side. The last one to be killed was the
hapless dromaeosaur under its foot.
When it had killed six members of the pack, the remainder fled, along
with the newly arrives dromaeosaurs and other predators still hovering around
the kill.
It was the most brutal example of survival the
aliens had ever seen, and it was also a reminder of how much danger they were now
in.
“Students
and technicians,” the professor turned dramatically for the camera to face the
group, “it’s time to hike back to the crawlers. It seemed to be fairly easy to climb up this rock. It should be even easier to climb back
down.”
He
knew, of course, that the opposite was true: going down a summit was always
more difficult than going up. One
by one the aliens descended the rock.
This time to protect his students and technicians the professor went
down first, so he would be at the bottom to guard them as they made their
descent. It was also an excellent
time to record his students’ success in climbing Irignum’s jagged rocks. Rifkin and then Rezwit followed, both
boys promising to blast an attacker to cosmic dust if it dared approach them now. Grummel was the next, his own courage
fortified by Rezwit’s promise to make him a sharpshooter just like
himself. Vimml, though weaponless,
eagerly followed his old gang down the rock. Lumnal, Yorzl, and Zeppa who wanted desperately to be like
the older students, picked up sticks to frighten away the beasts but stood
closest to the professor after reaching the bottom.
“Next
time we should bring the proper equipment for this sort of thing,” Zither
suggested petulantly, as he followed Omrik back down.
The
technicians, Urlum at the forefront, now followed Zither. Shizwit was the last and the most
nervous of the students to make her descent. The professor reached up to assist her as she approached the
base of the rock. He was not so
sure that forcing her to be in the ultra-extrovert Rifkin’s team was such a
good idea. Of all his students,
she was the most timid. She seemed
even more withdrawn now than when she had been in Zither’s group.
Recalling
Alafa and her simple delight at pushing the button on the controller, Arkru
decided to make a similar gesture to Shizwit. No matter what the crisis was or how exhausted or
overwrought he might be, the professor always had time to give personal
attention to one of his students or technicians. Now, as his mind raced ahead to plan their retreat, he must
appear confident and unflinching to the children, especially to those
fainthearted students, such as Shizwit, who had little confidence in
themselves. The electronic shield
that had seemed to protect them near the ship did not reach the forest. There was nothing stopping those
pint-size killers he saw unsuccessfully attacking the giant leaper. Perhaps, after such a failure, their
attention would be more easily turned toward them. The appearance of so many killers barely a mile away from
the ship had convinced the professor that there was, in fact, a buffer zone
surrounding the ship. Between
where they stood at the base of the rock and the crawlers on the hill, however,
was a significantly long interval of travel before they could feel safe.
“Shizwit,”
he said, handing her his pouch, “in the future I want you to protect the
keys. This is where the students
will drop them when they’re finished for the day. Don’t let anyone have a key that hasn’t been certified. Count them carefully when the day is
done!”
“Oh
thank you Doctor Arkru,” she replied, hanging the pouch around her neck.
The
fact that Shizwit, herself, was not yet allowed to shoot a stunner didn’t
matter to her. Using psychology,
as he had on Alafa and Vimml, Arkru had made her the Key Master, a title that
would one day make her a legend among her people. For now, on the planet of Irignum, Shizwit was a frightened
child, playing out a fantasy that would give her courage in the days
ahead. As the students clumped
together in an anxious knot at the base of the rock, Shizwit, Keeper of the
Keys, clutched her pouch for strength, a secret smile playing on her face.
Confident,
after his successes with Alafa, Vimml, and Shizwit, that he could inspire the
children, Doctor Arkru decided upon a plan. They would make a show of force to the surrounding denizens
lurking in the bushes and trees.
Already, he had armed, against all his instincts, several immature
students and martially inept technicians in order to protect the group from
imagined dangers in the trees.
Now, after seeing how real these dangers were, it seemed to be a fitting
time to give them target practice in the field.
Also
important, he thought to himself, was how it would play in the ship’s
record. What would the doubting
Falon think of his students and technicians now?
“When
I give the signal,” he ordered the weapon-bearers, “you will fire over the
trees around us to let our friends know that we, the Revekians, are passing
through.”
“What
is the signal?” Alafa asked, jumping up and down with glee.
“B-b-but
this’ll give us away,” Zorig sputtered in disbelief.
“I
say professor,” Ibris discreetly inquired, tapping the professor’s arm, “shouldn’t
we be exiting quietly, instead of making so much noise?”
“If
it wasn’t for these plodding suits we could run for it,” Tobit said with a
groan.
“We’re
the conquering race, the master race!” Rifkin, Rezwit, and Vimml chanted.
“At
the count of three,” Arkru cried, “raise you weapons, aim above the trees
surrounding us and fire a volley of shots until I say stop! One. . . Two. . . Three!”
Streams
of invisible electrons, heard as a crackling and hissing after each shot,
bombarded the humid air of the forest in a most unspectacular pyrotechnic
display, and yet the audible effect, Arkru noted, was instantaneous. All sounds—hooting, whistling and
trumpeting—ceased immediately.
Except for the slow, squat armored dinosaurs too slow to flee, the meadow
remained clear.
“We’re
invincible! Invincible!” sang
Alafa.
“Nothing
dare cross our paths!” Rifkin shouted exultantly, firing madly at flyers in the
sky.
When
the professor realized that his marksmen were shooting at the flying creatures
of the forest, he called an immediate halt to the demonstration.
“Rifkin,”
he scolded the mischievous student again, “once again you’re setting a bad
example to the others!”
But
Arkru could not stay angry at such a time. It appeared as if the Class 4 Stunner, like his trap, had
some effect upon the creatures of Irignum.
“The
shock factor is stupendous,” he told Zorig in confidence. “I wonder how long it
will last.”
“It
seems effective enough to me,” the technician shrugged, marveling at his own
weapon.
“We
scared the dakka droppings out of those beasts!” Rifkin crowed, waving his
stunner in the air.
“But
we haven’t shot anything,” Ibris observed, shoving his gun into his belt. “What
if this has only temporary shock value for the forest creatures? We need to try our guns out on a live
target.”
“Yes,
an Irignian in the flesh,” Tobit nodded in agreement.
“You
mean randomly kill an alien,” the professor gasped, shuddering at the thought.
“Well,”
Rifkin shook his helmet in disbelief, “that’s the general idea, isn’t it. How else are we going to test them?”
“Sounds
reasonable to me,” Rezwit joined in the debate.
Always
the voice of reason in concert with Doctor Arkru’s wishes, however, Zither
demurred: “We shouldn’t be so hasty.
One of our mottos is ‘never needlessly destroy Alien life.’”
“What
if they destroy us?” countered the
sneering Rifkin. “Irignum isn’t like Raethia or Beskol. The professor said so himself. We have to be a little bit like the Old
Ones. Their motto was ‘if it growls at you, stun it. If it moves one inch toward you, blow
it to cosmic dust!’”
“I
like that motto better,” Alafa nodded pertly.
Symbolically
scratching his helmet, Zither scanned his communicator a moment. “I can’t find that motto in our
database,” he concluded looking up from his wrist.
“You
can’t find it because I erased it from the ship’s memory,” Arkru exclaimed
irritably. “Please,” he implored Rifkin, “no more of this martial Old Ones’
claptrap. I’m sure your father has
told you all about the Dark Days and the Solar Wars, but that’s precisely why
the Reverend Doctors sent us on our mission to undo the planetary destruction
of our forebears.”
“That
was Modrit,” Rifkin spoke brazenly “This is Irignum!”
“Doctor
Arkru?” Omrik, of all people, finally spoke.
“Yes,
go on Omrik, this is an event,” the
professor said wryly. “Do you agree with these warmongers?”
“No,…
but I agree that they must experiment with their guns. They have no other choice,” Omrik hung
his head in dismay.
“Good
boy,” Rifkin nudged him on.
“Well,”
Arkru laughed bitterly, “I see you’ve corrupted another one of my
students. If anyone shall
undertake this undesirable task, though, it shall be someone with the right
attitude, not a warmonger like our young Rifkin. Someone who, like myself, takes no pleasure in this task.”
“….Who shall it be?” He looked around the group.
That
very second sixteen hands, including both of Rifkin’s, shot up excitedly into
the air, sad proof for Arkru that the Old Ones spirit lived on in his people. Everyone, except the faithful Zither,
wanted to bag themselves a beast on Irignum; even Zorig and his sister Urlum
were excited by the thought.
That’s why Arkru motioned for Zither to step foreword now.
“Zither,
pick your target,” he ordered solemnly, pointing to the student’s gun. “You
shall shoot the first beast!”
“Very
well,” Zither swallowed, raising his gun and pointing to the sky. “…. I’ll try
to hit one of those flyers.”
Rifkin
was outraged by Arkru’s choice.
Vimml felt a surge of jealousy too, now that his leader was upstaging
him. Urlum, to add to Zither’s
feeling of triumph right now, gave him a smile of approval as he looked down.
“Here
goes,” he murmured, holding his breath.
Unlike
his target practice yesterday, which left a lot to be desired, Zither’s blast
hit a flyer at the first try. The
unfortunate creature dropped instantly into the field ahead of them, “deader
than a meteor,” Illiakim marveled, giving it playful kick.
“I
don’t approve of this,” the professor grumbled, pushing Illiakim out of the
way. “You all act like this is a game.”
“It
is a game,” Rifkin murmured under his
breath.
“No,
it’s not!” he heard Urlum say.
It
seemed as if there were at least two students who disapproved of Revekia’s
savage past. Zither was visibly
shaken by what he had to do. But,
with the exception of the professor and Urlum, it appeared as if no one was
very moved by the unfortunate flyer.
An ugly creature resembling a bird only in body type lie stricken on the
ground. It had a large, reptilian
beak, filled with teeth and a long lizard-like tail. It’s tiny body was tangled in its long, leathery wings and
seemed to be quite dead, until one of its large eyes opened and it began
jerking around on the ground.
“It’s
alive!” Lumnal cried happily, clapping his gloves.
“Yes,
it’s trying to get away,” Alafa was suddenly compassionate.
“Poor
little flyer,” Illiakim said, bending over to survey the carcass she had just
kicked, “he’s all busted up.”
To
everyone’s amazement the little flyer actually stood up and flapped his wings,
indicating that no damage had been done to this part of its body. It’s
inability to remain on its tiny legs for very long meant it was obviously
injured and would require convalescence on the ship, but the blast from the gun
had only knocked it out.
“Ibris
and Tobit,” Arkru barked excitedly, “go pull off one of those large leaves by
the forest edge and carry this little fellow back to the crawlers. We just made our first official
collection. I shall dub him
entrippas vladmian, which means ‘large wing and tiny body’—the first of its
kind to be named.”
“Shouldn’t
Zither name him?” Urlum asked, appearing suddenly by Zither’s side.
Zither
felt weak kneed, and his helmet felt as if it wasn’t big enough for his head,
but he remained modest even now, a trait that Urlum marveled at but Rifkin saw
as weakness, as did most of the other boys. By now Ibris and Tobit had devised a makeshift gurney from a
jungle leaf and the little flyer lie snuggled in its midst.
“I
will defer to the professor,” he looked down at it and smiled. “Entrippas
vladmian sounds fine to me.”
As
they began hiking through the meadow, the surrounding forest began to stir with
its familiar sounds. Hoots,
whistles, and chirping noises, they never heard before, filled the air. After the irresponsible attitude
demonstrated by the children, Arkru was convinced more than ever to keep
careful inventory on the stunner keys.
No one else could fire without his expressed permission, he reminded
them. Weapons were a necessary
evil, and they were not toys.
Almost as an afterthought, as the group plodded toward the crawlers, he signaled
to Shizwit, by making a locking motion with his fingers, to deactivate the
stunners and gather the keys. This
delighted her immensely. Approaching
her team leader first, she reached out and timidly motioned for Rifkin’s
gun. Seeing the professor’s stern
expression, Rifkin reluctantly pulled it out of his belt, slamming it rudely
into her tiny palm. Shizwit
inserted her key into the handle of the stunner, turned it once, then handed
back the deactivated gun.
“Is
this really necessary, professor?” He fumed, as she dropped the key into her
pouch. “What if something attacks our crawler? What’re we suppose to do—wait for Shizwit to give us our
keys while they tear us to shreds?”
“He
doesn’t trust us,” Arkru heard Rezwit mumble to Alafa. “I thought our team was
special. Why must she hold our
keys?”
No
one else seemed as bothered by the move.
Zither had already pulled out his stunner and stood ready for his
turn. As the professor listened to
Rifkin, Rezwit, and Alafa grumble about the action, however, he decided it was
time to remind them all why they were here.
“Listen
my students and technicians. I
don’t like the warlike attitude growing in our ranks. You’re not children of the Old Ones. You’re part of a greater destiny than
theirs. I believe that Izmir, the
great Celestial God, is punishing our world for what the Old Ones did in the
past. Our sages tell us that our
sun is dying and soon our entire solar system will be destroyed by Izmir’s
wrath. We must not take pleasure
in using weapons, as did our forebears.
We’re scientists and collectors.
That’s not our way. I want
you to learn to use your stunners responsibly. You can’t fire you guns every time you hear a twig
snap. That would be dangerous for
both ourselves and our hosts. Be
vigilant with your weapons, but don’t overreact. Cherish the sanctity of all life, not just our own.”
“Psst,
professor,” Zorig touched his arm, “you really think that’s a good idea? What if those spike-toes attack us this
time? Shouldn’t we present a
united front?”
“Don’t
worry,” Arkru said under his breath, “My weapons are ready. When we’re under way, I’ll let you,
Ibris, and Tobit re-arm. I can’t
watch the others in back of us, but I can keep my eye on you. It’s as important for all of you to
know when to use your stunners as it
is to learn how to shoot your guns.
That young Rifkin wants to bag himself a beast. I think his attitude is spreading
through the group.”
“He’s
trouble,” Zorig nodded vigorously. “I don’t care how well he shoots!”
As
they climbed into their respective crawlers, Arkru listened to his students
chatter amongst themselves. He had
almost forgotten about the camera running constantly on the rim of his
helmet. His video journal of today
was showing both the light side and the dark side of his students’
behavior. Thanks to this record,
Zither’s cowardly performance by the rock seemed overshadowed by his noble
attitude as he fired upon the flyer.
As expected, the only students upset about the guns being deactivated
were Rifkin’s circle. Alafa had
been influenced by her team leader Rezwit. Everyone, however, was so excited about today’s sights and
sounds that the mood grew festive on the way back. Several of them sang their favorite songs or boasted of
their bravery that morning. Even Rifkin
would not let anything spoil his general mood. Arkru was filled with love and pride for the students and
the technicians sharing this day with him.
While
Zorig took the steering wheel and Urlum tried to get comfortable between Ibris
and Tobit in the back seat, Arkru inputted several ideas into his wrist
communicator, including Zorig’s unwitting nickname of the predators they
discovered today. These diversions
made it sound like he was muttering to himself on tape.
“Spike-toes,”
he mumbled to himself. “Divit mugzian. . . That’s a good name for those little
leapers. It suits them. I have a feeling we’ll see them again!”
Idly
now, as he strapped himself in, he looked down at the guns in his belt. Again he tapped ideas into his
computer:
Create holsters for
students, technicians and myself…. Give each of them special training on when and
when not to shoot.… When team leaders appear responsible and show reverence for
alien life, allow them to carry their own keys to activate stunners.
With that last word inputted into the computer, the
professor did a double take and looked back at his gun. Just as they were all seated and ready
to return, a realization swept over him that caused him to bolt in his seat.
“Listen
my students and technicians,” he held up his hands, “I just looked at my two
stunners and discovered that they were on the lowest setting, which should just
shock its victims, not knock them out of the sky.” “What setting were you all
using?” he shouted back to Crawlers One, Two and Three.
“Low!”
Rifkin gasped. “Great Cosmic Ghosts, I just remembered; there are three settings
on our guns!”
“What
about you Zither, our little hunter?” Arkru called back excitedly to him.
“Mine’s
was on low too,” Zither replied, whistling under his breath.
“Not
bad, not bad at all,” Arkru turned triumphantly to the doubting Ibris and
Tobit, who had doubted their efficiency before. “What about the rest of you
when we were giving our magnificent display. Were yours also set on low?”
Everyone
who had been issued a gun nodded.
Arkru now motioned for Zorig to lead them back to the ship. Vimml, in spite of not having a gun
himself yet, was so excited about these implications he swallowed his
resentment toward Zither and began babbling about the possibilities of this
weapon now.
“Imagine
what you’d have done to that flyer if you had it set on three?” he crowed.
“That
might have carbonized him,” Zither frowned. “Would good would that have
served?”
Zeppa
made a face inside her helmet.
Illiakim was looking at Zither in a slightly different light since he
had found favor in the professor’s eyes.
“It
sure would come in handy if we meet one of those lepers,” she chattered. “I’m
glad the flyer’s all right, but it was a good thing you shot it down. Would you teach us to shoot like that?”
“Yes,”
he nodded, his alien heart swelling with pride, “I’ll do my best.”
“Me
too? Huh-huh?” Zeppa bounced up
and down with excitement in her seat.
“Yes,” Zither promised dubiously, “… all of you, even Zeppa. The professor doesn’t have to know.”
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