Koban: The Mark of Koban Read online

  ****

  The other human that observed a single ship land also saw the warrior leave it in a section of forest. He soon heard firing and screams as it entered the outskirts of his own hamlet. Jovan knew about the Krall, and that this one was killing people he knew. They always departed after killing as many people as they could in the time they gave themselves. Jovan wanted to see if he could find a usable weapon in the alien ship, or at least disable the ship so the alien could not escape to do this again to another city.

  Jovan found the shallow depression of the hatch release, which the warrior had not bothered to encode. It had no respect for the “animals” it was here to kill, thinking they were too stupid to find the ship, or enter it if they did. He was wrong on both points; one did find it and get inside. Unfortunately, this human didn’t comprehend the Krall characters on the countdown timer on the console. He also didn’t know how to stop a fusion bottle’s loss of containment even if he had recognized the threat.

  The explosion leveled the large grove of trees, and the sound and location of the small mushroom shaped cloud informed the Krall of his loss of transportation. He was so upset that he would be required to explain this mistake to Parkoda, that he killed far fewer humans than he had planned. It was a tough day all around.

  8. Mothers Provide (Koban)

  Merki missed her pride, and her lost mate. When Bolar died, the result of a poisoned rhinolo horn’s scratch, she nearly joined him trying to divert the bull’s attention. Her pride mates interceded to save her from a futile sacrifice, reminding her with mind touches that she needed to protect the two cubs they all knew she was expecting.

  Her pride mates drew the aggressive bull closer to the rhinolo cow he was trying to protect. The pride had crippled and brought the cow down and it was only a matter of time until the rhinolo herd would have to leave the female to her fate. However, this gave Merki a final chance to race in and touch neck frills, to exchange mind pictures with the steadily weakening and doomed Bolar.

  She shared with him, for the last time, the impressions of the barely aware cubs in her womb, her first. Bolar cautioned her to protect their cubs from other males, who would want to mate with Merki when he was gone. They would not want to feed and protect cubs that were not their own, and another unmated female would have to take them.

  Bolar passed her an image that he knew that the mere scratch had doomed him moments after it happened. He had smelled the waxy yellow substance on the minor wound when he licked a trickle of blood away. The pride had pursued the cow well into open flat grassland, with no shelter for Bolar before temporary paralysis rendered him helpless.

  Just as he accepted the rhinolo cow’s death to benefit the pride, he accepted his impending death from one or more of the avenging bulls of the herd. He had been careless and complacent as he toyed foolishly with an old bull, drawing it away so some pride mate could finish suffocating the cow with a jaw grip on its throat.

  Because the herd was far from any forest, where the dangerous bushes usually grew, he had not bothered to sniff the bull’s nose horns for the aromatic wax traces from the shrub’s thorns. Clearly, the bull had recently found such a bush, and wiped its horns on the thorns, collecting the waxy neurotoxin. It was too early in the spring awakening for ripe fruit on a bush, so the old experienced bull had done it exactly for this purpose, to coat its horn. It was recently enough that the substance had not yet degraded. Belatedly, Bolar granted the bull respect, it had done its best to defend its herd.

  His awareness would not diminish as he lost the ability to control his body, although the flaming pain as the poison started to spread through his body was impossible to ignore. He let Merki know that death would be a release from the terrible pain. He also knew that despite her youth, she had shared mind pictures from pride elders of the agony he would soon feel, passed down from those that had eventually recovered from similar wounds by reaching shelter. There would be no gradual recovery from the paralysis for Bolar.

  As the bull turned back to exact its revenge, he urged Merki to leave him, to protect his cubs. That was the last mind image she carried away as their telepathic organ, their fleshy neck frills, broke contact. That imperative had led her to follow a course of isolation, away from her pride and new suitors. This had indirectly led her into her present trap.

  Without the pride or a mate to work with her, it was difficult to catch the fleet small prey she could easily kill by herself. She was fast and strong; they were slightly faster even in short pursuits when she hit her burst of speed. The small prey was nimble and changed direction often. Larger prey was harder to take down alone, and difficult to ambush on the plains because their higher positioned eyes saw her crouching in the grass farther away.

  Migrating rhinolo were plentiful, but healthy ones were unobtainable by a lone ripper. Fortunately, smaller prey often grazed along parallel tracks, adjacent to migrating herds of rhinolo. It was the smaller prey that Merki had been seeking today. There were rhinolo passing close to her hidden position, but she had spotted a group of gazelles, browsing near the enclosed area claimed by the red ones.

  Merki approached the wall of the red one’s territory to take advantage of the cliff wall around it, to reduce the directions her agile prey could use to flee. The pride had witnessed that the red prey, with their dangerous stinging sticks, had departed into the sky in many of their not-life carriers. A new slower prey replaced the red ones. These were much less dangerous, even with remote killing stinging sticks and not-life flying things. They were very slow.

  She had stalked the small herd of gazelles to the cliff wall. She was ravenous, and her twins were sending her distracting mental hunger sensations. They had no visual images yet, but they knew hunger and other basic feelings.

  The prey group was moving closer to the cliff wall, where, if she charged them, they would have only two directions to flee from her. Left or right, and some would choose one or the other direction. Merki had only to commit to one or the other side to have an increased chance of getting her claws and jaws on one animal that had too few other directions to leap.

  The gazelles happened to be grazing near one of the cliff openings. These openings the red ones sometimes used when their not-live carriers were the type that stayed only on the ground. If Merki could force one or more of her prey to touch the not-live deadly vines that guarded the openings, she might achieve more than a single kill. That would be enough food to last her beyond the birth of her cubs, due within weeks.

  When she determined the pursuit angle was at optimum, she could force them to split when she rushed them, then she would leap to one side to try to capture one of the prey directly as they scattered. Now it looked as if there could be a chance to force a second gazelle to touch the deadly gray not-live vines, providing a potential additional kill.

  Finally, the dozen gazelles were close enough to the cliff and the protected opening. Merki surged to her feet from her belly crawl and charged slightly from the left of the prey, forcing more of them to choose to turn to her right, as anticipated. She immediately adjusted her next leap to her right, ready to sink her claws or fangs into one of the prey forced to remain parallel to the cliff. Either that or they might contact the deadly straight gray vines that killed from the slightest touch.

  Instead, the eight prey that had moved to her right suddenly turned directly towards the cliff opening, away from her rush. They might all die if they touched the vines.

  To her surprise, there was an opening in the vines. It had not been apparent from her approach from the left. All eight gazelles attempted to turn to pass through the narrow opening through the cliff. Several of the prey animals made contact with the vines, or with the stiff grey trees that held them off the ground. They did not die!

  One of them stumbled, first as if afflicted by the touch, but it quickly struggled to its feet and continued through the opening, limping. Not sure why the vines no longer had a killing effect, Merki’s hunger drove her through after
them, staying well clear of the sides of the opening. She pursued the injured looking prey, which although still fleet footed, was unable to leap as high or switch course as quickly as normal for its kind. Merki was confident she could run it down.

  A short pursuit ensued, and she was able to strike at its rear legs as it tried to turn, too slowly, and knocked its rear legs from under the animal. It was over, as the ripper swarmed onto the fallen bleating prey, claws holding it firmly. She sank her massive jaws into its throat, simultaneously piercing blood vessels with her canines, and crushing closed the trachea. The touch of her neck frill transmitted the thrilling sense of the prey’s terror, as its life slowly faded over the next few minutes.

  This was the first sizable kill for her since she had parted from her pride nearly two weeks ago, and she needed to eat for herself and her cubs. There was a grove of low trees nearby, and she quickly drug the carcass under them, out of sight of harassing wolfbats or scavenger birds. Without pride mates to share guard responsibility, a squadron of wolfbats could prove very troublesome and distracting.

  She started feeding, tearing away the unwanted stomach with her claws and teeth, even bypassing the acceptable intestines, going for the more nutritious organs, such as the heart, liver, lungs and kidney. The hindquarters and ribs would come later, since they would keep for a longer time. Without a need to share the kill with a pride, she would consume all she could hold over the next week. The head she would save for last provided there wasn’t a fresh kill to replace this one.

  Merki was enjoying a sense of fullness when her keen hearing detected the sound of a not-life ground carrier like the red ones used. She had never seen or heard one herself, but the pride had shared mind pictures from members that had encountered the red ones in the past. She crept to the edge of the grove, sighting the retreating object. It looked as if it had come from the cliff wall opening she had used. Despite anxiety to investigate, she waited for the not-life to disappear around a low hill.

  Keeping low, she rushed through the tall grass until she neared the opening. As she did, the mind image of a scent she had never sensed directly told her that two of the slower prey that ruled here now had been in the not-life carrier, not red ones. Looking apprehensively at the opening, she confirmed her dread. The gray vines now stretched across the opening she had passed through so recently. She didn’t know for certain, but sensed that they were deadly to the touch once more. The separation from the pride she had avoided was now genuine, trapped inside this unknown territory.

  Except for the gazelles she had followed in here, there might not be any prey for her to hunt. The uncropped tall grass made it appear that no herds had grazed this area for a considerable time. What would she eat when the prey she had now was gone? She had two cubs coming soon.

  ****

  “Amelia, I know you were thrilled to see the rhinolo and other herd animals, and wanted to stay longer. However, it’s very dangerous out there. Not only would a bull rhinolo charge us if we got too close, on rough terrain it might even catch us. You wouldn’t believe how fast those massive animals can run.”

  Lady Simpson hugged Flaven Dawson, her new consort, in gratitude. “I know Flav, but weren’t they impressive and magnificent? There haven’t been vast herds like that on Earth for hundreds of years. A handful of colony worlds have big native animal herds, but not with such rich beautiful colors, and not animals so energetic and powerfully built. The gravity does add a sense of ‘irresistible force’ to them. I wish we had some inside the walls where we could see them all the time.”

  Flaven patted her arm in return, keeping a firm hand on the truck’s steering stick over the bumpy ground. “There are other animals out there, such as predators, that we definitely don’t want to encounter. Rippers are just the smartest ones. Koban has jackal type pack animals, and analogues to Earth cheetahs, leopards, hyenas, the little raptors we call screamers, and those are just the warm weather killers. The whiteraptors occasionally come this far south.

  “We don’t even have local names for many of Koban’s animals yet, because it’s so risky to do what we just did, to go outside and study them. If we had fully enclosed, extra heavy-duty trucks, we might risk it more often. Only we don’t have them now. That’s why I left the gate open, ready to race back inside if something came after us.”

  “Oh, I thought you did that so we wouldn’t accidentally touch the electrified fencing as we drove through.”

  “I wouldn’t want to do that, for sure,” he laughed at her innocence. “But there are cutoff switches in boxes on the walls next to the gates. That’s what I was doing when I got in and out of the truck. I bypassed the voltage before pulling the double gates open, and then I closed the gates when we returned. They are charged again now, to keep even a rhinolo outside.”

  “Flav, you’re sure you won’t get in trouble for taking me out? The Governor was so mean to me when I asked permission.”

  “I made sure I had a valid excuse for taking a truck out, and just like when we left, I want you to duck down as we pull near the dome and park under the overhang. Keep your video recordings safe sweetheart. We each appear in them, so we can’t claim we weren’t out there.”

  “I’ll be careful Flav. This was our harmless secret holiday.”

  ****

  Merki was hungry a week sooner than she had expected. Due to her inexperience, her gazelle carcass didn’t provide nourishment for as long as expected. For her, that is. The little brown stingers from below the ground had covered and stripped the meat from the bones overnight, while she slept in the low tree branches.

  After the fact, the reason for the lush small grove of low trees revealed itself in a mind image previously shared by pride elders. The roots of the low trees benefited from the soil turnover and waste products of a subterranean stinging insect colony. The cool foliage refuge sometimes drew small overnight residents that checked in, but didn’t check out.

  The problem with many shared mind images was context. Until you encountered the circumstances, the images often had no meaning. Thus, Merki was hungry sooner than expected, but now knew to store her kills in trees, or at least away from those small low groves.

  Her nose and scouting quickly drew her to a strange clear wall within the larger territory where she found herself confined. Other than occasional traces of the seven surviving gazelles she had followed inside, the only prey scented away from the central nest of the slow ones came through small holes in that clear porous wall.

  The second wall proved much tougher than her claws and teeth. The material yielded slightly but would not tear or puncture. She saw and scented the sizable but unfamiliar prey animals behind the barrier. Initially they ran when they saw her prowling the perimeter, but gradually realized they were safe from attack by her. After that, they would gather to look at her in obvious curiosity, which Merki found disturbing for mindless prey animals. That was because they didn’t seem completely mindless in their behavior.

  The slow ones that lived in the central den were definitely not mindless, but that meant they represented a threat because they used not-live carriers for protection, and stinging sticks that could injure or kill at a distance. They also controlled the killing vines that guarded the top of the cliff walls and the openings. They were seemingly weak prey, yet strangely powerful.

  As a group, they were a great danger to her, but in isolation, she was certain she could stalk and easily kill two or three. They would not react fast enough to oppose or threaten her if she got close. They didn’t even maintain sentinels when outside, or watch anything but the sky, presumably because they thought the flyers were the only threats that could enter their territory.

  Her cubs were sending hunger impressions again, and she needed to build her reserves to make the protein secretions they needed after birth, and would suckle from her. That was in two weeks, at most. She had no choice. Her needs and those of her cubs outweighed the risk of preying on the slow ones. She had to prepare a suitable birthing
den, and then obtain a fresh supply of meat.

  ****

  Holding hands, the couple was apparently taking a pleasant evening stroll, enjoying the cool temperature and mild breezes before the heat and humidity returned. Outdoors was also a place where they could have a private conversation.

  “Candice, Stewart simply wants to improve our relations with Prime City. We rely on them for food right now, and for manufacturing products that we need in the machine shops from all of the ships grounded there. Really, all we can repay them with is our good will. Cahill is risking that source of vital material with her anti Kobani rhetoric.

  “A famous woman like Lady Alstot will gain listeners for a male like my brother, just by being with her at social functions.” Glen MacDougal was explaining to his wife why his older brother had formed a consort liaison with a haughty former socialite.

  “Glen, I understand the why of it, but now you don’t get to spend much time with him. We aren’t high enough socially to revolve in those elite circles. I know, like you and I, Stewart doesn’t like Governor Cahill at all, and yet he’s rubbing shoulders with people in her group, using Lady Alstot’s celebrity and former position. I emphasize Lady Alstot’s former prominent position in Hub and Old Colony high society and wealth. I don’t see how that translates into the same position now, with her stranded on Koban like the rest of us.”

  They actually were enjoying their nightly evening walk around the dome, it just happened to be away from potential eavesdroppers. That in itself was an indication of how matters were deteriorating under Cahill’s administration. Factions were developing, and social cohesion was fragmenting as informants were listened to by Cahill, and their opinions and reports were solicited and rewarded.