The three adult lemurs listened to the translation and then stepped aside. The juveniles moved forward, their round eyes flitting back and forth between the humans. Infinity noticed that both were females, each with two pairs of diminutive nipples on her abdomen. The nearest girl was slightly taller, but other than that the two appeared to be identical.
One of them spoke, her cackles and clicks noticeably higher in pitch than the adults. When she was finished, Desmond's translator said, “I have not seen animals like you. You look strange, and your talking makes me want to laugh.”
Desmond shot Infinity a smile and then replied. “Yes, I understand why we would look and sound funny to you. We come from a different place, where people like us are the only creatures that can talk.”
The two juveniles cocked their heads as they listened to the translation. They chittered loudly, apparently laughing. Then the shorter girl spoke. “Your talking is funny, and the things you say are funny. You don’t have tails. That is very funny. What happened to your tails?” As Desmond was considering how to respond, the young lemurs flicked their black and white tails as if flaunting them.
He turned, displaying his backside. “Our species doesn’t have tails. But there are animals where we came from that have tails. In fact, most of them have tails. I must say, your tails are… nice.”
The girls listened to the translation and chittered again. They turned to each other, extended both hands, and did some kind of rapid gesture in which their fingertips touched. It reminded Infinity of a fist bump. The taller girl then spoke. “Why did the city dwellers put you in our enclosure?”
Desmond glanced at Infinity again, this time frowning.
Infinity decided to answer the question. “The city dwellers don’t know we are here in your enclosure. They attacked us, and we ran away. We came here on our own.”
Desmond quickly added, “And we are happy to meet you.”
The girls chattered together for a moment, and Desmond’s translator didn’t respond. The taller girl then turned back to Desmond. “We are happy to meet you, too. We will be sad when the city dwellers kill you. We hope you will fight them with honor. But you don’t look like fighters. They will kill you easily. But I will be sad when they kill you.”
Before the translator even finished speaking, Grayface barked at the girl, apparently scolding her. She blinked her massive eyes at him and let out a few soft whistles.
Infinity spoke to the girl. “What makes you think they will kill us? They didn’t see us come into your enclosure. They don’t even know we’re here.”
The girl looked at Infinity and blinked again. She spoke, and Infinity’s translator responded. “Were you hunted where you came from, or did you hunt others?”
Infinity cursed silently. Grayface had apparently told the girl to change the subject. “The place we came from originally was home to only one intelligent species—only one kind of animal that could talk, and we did not hunt each other. But we had to leave that world. Some of us,” she pointed to Desmond and Gideon, “moved to a place that was home for one other intelligent species. But we were friends with them, and we did not hunt each other.”
After listening to the translation, the two girls chattered to each other for a moment, and then the smaller one spoke to Infinity. “I think your words are funny. You tell funny stories.”
Infinity waited for her translator to continue, but it remained silent. Apparently this was all the girl wanted to say.
The taller girl spoke up again, beginning with chittering laughter and then launching into an extended sequence of whistles, squeals, and purrs. Infinity’s translator began responding while the girl was still speaking. “My father told funny stories sometimes. He was killed on his first hunt. I was sad then. But he was happy to take his turn in the hunt. My mother was killed on her fourth hunt. She killed three city dwellers before a city dweller killed her, and I was not sad. She fought with honor, and she gave life to three others who would have taken their turns if she had died on her first hunt.”
Infinity’s translator paused, perhaps struggling to process the lengthy stream of language. The young lemur continued talking, and after several seconds the device resumed. “I will now tell you how I will fight in my first hunt. I have been learning this for many days. I will climb into a long-pod tree, and I will pretend I am busy eating the white flowers. I will let the city dweller see me. The city dweller will think I am not aware, and the city dweller will approach the tree, thinking it will be easy to leap up and pull me to the ground and kill me with its hands and feet.”
The translator paused again for a few seconds. “But I will have something the city dweller will not know about.” The girl reached out and accepted an object handed to her by the third adult standing with Scarface and Grayface. The girl held the object up, gripped in her long fingers. It was green, about ten inches long, and the tip was pointed. The object looked very much like a seedpod from a catalpa tree. “I made this,” the girl said, although she had already lowered the pod back to her side by the time the words came from the translator. “It is not a real long-pod—it just looks like one. Now I will show you how I will kill my first city dweller.”
The girl lunged toward Scarface and leapt onto her shoulders. Infinity tensed up, unsure what was happening. The girl continued chattering. “I will be low in the long-pod tree. The stupid city dweller will pull me to the ground.”
The smaller girl suddenly jumped up, grabbed the first girl’s wrist, and pulled her down from her perch. The girl narrating the story tumbled and hit the ground, landing on her back with a thud. The smaller girl became a blur of motion, putting her friend in a kind of scissor chokehold, with her legs around the narrator’s neck and her arms locked around the taller girl’s legs to immobilize them.
The narrator continued speaking, although with some difficulty. “The city dweller will try to kill me like this, because this is a city dweller’s favorite killing maneuver. But remember, I will have my weapon.” She held out her homemade seedpod weapon and hesitated, waiting until Infinity’s translator had finished speaking. She then flicked the weapon inward toward her own groin, appearing to plunge it into the younger girl’s neck.
The young girl sputtered and rolled away, gripping her throat. The narrator smoothly jumped to her feet and jabbed the pod into the smaller girl’s neck again and again. Infinity had to look closely to reassure herself that the stabs were not real but rather convincingly simulated. The younger girl's gruesome gargling noises quickly gave way to chittering laughter. She was apparently delighted to have played a role in the demonstration.
The taller girl finally halted her thrusts and stood up straight, facing the humans. “This is how I will kill in my first hunt. The city dweller will not get a yellow band on that day. I have not decided yet how I will kill my second city dweller, but I will. And I will kill a third. Maybe I will even kill a fourth, and then no city dweller will ever get a yellow band for killing me. I will go on my hunts with honor, and I will give life to others who will not have to take their turns.”
The smaller girl finally stopped chittering and rose to her feet. She said, “My mother and father were killed on their first hunts. But I will not be killed. I will learn to fight, and when it is my turn, I will not be afraid.”
Infinity stared at the two girls for several seconds, waiting for Desmond to say something reasonable. But he remained silent, and so did Gideon and the Marines. These lemurs, who were at least as intelligent as humans, lived in a world in which they had to train their children to find dignity in being slaughtered. Infinity’s own childhood hadn’t been all candy and teddy bears, but she had no idea what it would be like to grow up knowing she’d eventually be hunted down and killed for sport. What could she or any other human possibly say to these kids?
She sighed and turned to the taller girl. “You’re missing a good opportunity to weaken your attacker before they take you to the ground.” She waited for her device to translate and t
hen proceeded. “The city dwellers are larger than you, and they are skilled at grappling on the ground. You have a good plan, but you need to wound your attacker before you hit the ground.”
Again she waited on the translation and then instructed the girl to take her previous position on Scarface’s shoulders. Once the girl was in position, Infinity reached up and gripped her elbow. “The city dweller will expect you to flail helplessly as you fall. This gives you an opportunity to surprise him—or her.” She pushed the girl up into a standing position on Scarface’s shoulders. “If you position yourself vertically in the tree, your attacker will have to grab your leg instead of your arm. He’ll probably grab your nearest leg, so have your weapon ready in your opposite hand. When the city dweller pulls you from the tree, turn your body at the waist and thrust your weapon into his eye. If you aim well and strike hard enough, it will go all the way into his brain and kill him. At the very least, it will slow him down, giving you an advantage when you grapple with him on the ground.”
Infinity waited to make sure the girl understood what she had said, and then she began guiding her through the motions. “Practice this move until you can do it with your eyes closed. And be sure to practice it with the weapon in your other hand too—the city dweller could attack from either side.”
The girl chittered with apparent delight. “Yes, I will kill my first city dweller this way. I like your funny talking. I will be sad when a city dweller kills you.”
Grayface barked at the girl again, and she promptly leapt off Scarface’s shoulders and positioned herself beside the younger girl. Grayface barked once more, and the two girls scampered away, laughing together as they ran.
Grayface turned to the humans. “You were respectful to our children, as we requested. We will return your weapons now.” The lemur barked a few orders, and soon a male lemur brought out the two dart guns and handed them over to Gideon and Terry.
Grayface spoke again. “Soon you must leave our home and our enclosure. We do not want the city dwellers to come to our home looking for you. We hope that you are learning from us. We hope that you are learning how you can be happy even when the city dwellers hunt and kill one of you every day, because that surely will be your future.”
As if prompted by some silent signal, the hundreds of lemurs surrounding the humans all began getting to their feet. Most of the chattering stopped, and a somber silence settled in as the crowd began shuffling toward one end of the clearing.
Grayface watched some of the lemurs walking past and then spoke to the humans. “Now is the time for the daily hunt. You should observe our procedures—our rituals. Our rituals help us to be happy. You can learn to be happy. Follow me.”
Grayface waited for the translation to end and then gestured for the humans to follow him. He then led them away with the rest of the crowd.
At the edge of the treehouse village, the lemurs and humans gathered in silence around a single adult male, who was intensely focused on grooming his bushy, black and white tail.
Once the entire group was in position, an adult female Infinity didn’t recognize began talking to the lemur who was grooming his tail. The female appeared to be even older than Scarface and Grayface, and she had more scars on her face and body than either of them. Infinity decided to call her Scarbody.
Grayface, apparently recognizing that the translators weren’t responding, turned to the humans and spoke directly to them. Infinity’s translator interpreted. “The individual you see before you is preparing for the hunt. His turn is today. We have rituals for choosing turns. We choose turns many days ahead. We choose turns by many factors, including age and length of time since the individual’s last turn. Also, individuals may volunteer for turns. To volunteer for a turn is honorable, because it gives life to another who would otherwise have a turn on that day. To injure or to kill a hunting city dweller is also honorable, because it allows the victor to have another turn, which also gives life to another. If an individual kills hunting city dwellers on four hunts, they never have to take another turn. There are only three among us who never have to take another turn.” Grayface waited for the translator to finish and then pointed to his own forehead. He then pointed to Scarface, and finally to Scarbody.
Everyone turned their attention back to the lemur at the center of the gathering, who had finally finished grooming his tail and was now standing stone-still, staring at Scarbody, who was still speaking to him.
“We are asking if he would like to give his turn to another,” Grayface said to the humans. “He has three children, and the children’s mother did not return from her only hunt. Therefore, giving his turn to another would bring him little dishonor. However, he is now indicating that he does not wish to do so.”
Infinity said, “What would happen if no one went to the hunt? What if you all just stayed here?”
Grayface responded. “The city dweller would become angry and would come to our home and attack the first individual it encountered. This would not be fair, because it would not be that individual’s turn.”
One of the Marines, Terry, spoke up. “What if two of you go on the hunt? Or three? Hell, ten of you could go, and you could kill the hunter with ease.”
Grayface blinked several times as he listened to the translation. “We have tried many strategies—more strategies than I could describe without becoming tired of describing. The hunter is accompanied always by other city dwellers who document the hunt. They document the hunt with devices that make pictures—cameras. If two or more of us go on the hunt, or if we violate the rules in any other way, the city dwellers will know. Then the city dwellers will come to our home with vehicles and weapons. They will destroy our home, and we will have to rebuild. They will cause hardship for us, and still they will hunt one of us each day. They will hunt one of us each day, always. We have learned to be happy anyway. You can learn to be happy, too.”
Infinity listened to the lengthy translation and then glanced at each of her human companions in turn. They were all staring grimly at the lemur in the center of the crowd, who was still standing motionless. Scarbody finally stopped speaking to the lemur, stepped forward, and handed the creature a polished stick about three feet long.
The lemur accepted the stick, and Scarbody stepped back. The lemur then crouched abruptly into a fighting stance, the fingers of his right hand touching the ground and his left hand gripping the stick beside his left cheek. The crowd erupted into a chorus of enthusiastic whistles and chirps.
Grayface spoke to the humans again. “The city dwellers allow us to defend ourselves with weapons, but the weapons must be small and simple. The city dwellers never use weapons when they hunt us, because they achieve more honor by killing us without using weapons. A city dweller gets a yellow band when they kill one of us. Then they wear the yellow band on their leg. This brings them honor. If they kill us when we are using a weapon, they get a yellow band with blue markings. This brings them even more honor.”
The lemur held his stance for some seconds and then launched abruptly into a series of fighting moves. Infinity stared in awe as the creature’s moves became faster and more elaborate. In an intricately-choreographed dance, the stick spun and sliced through the air audibly, loud enough to be heard even over the appreciative vocalizations of the crowd. Infinity was skeptical about how well the moves in this performance would serve the lemur in an actual fight to the death, but the whole thing was still breathtaking to watch.
After at least a full minute of all-out exertion, the lemur finally stopped. Gripping his stick in one hand, he headed for the forest, and the crowd parted to allow him through. The lemurs stared after him in complete silence until he was no longer visible.
Grayface turned and spoke to Infinity’s group again. “He will go to the place where city dwellers always come to hunt us. The city dwellers believe that their skill allows them to find us, but in reality we always go to them. The city dwellers are skilled fighters, but they are not skilled hunters.”
Infinity shook her head solemnly. The ring-tail was offering himself up, knowing he would most likely be killed.
Infinity glanced around, expecting the crowd to begin dispersing, but everyone remained still and silent. Several minutes passed, and still the lemurs scarcely moved a muscle. She sensed that they were waiting for something to happen, but there was nothing to see but dense forest.
“What the hell are we doing?” asked Deon.
Several of the lemurs shot looks at the Marine, but their stoic faces and wide eyes revealed no meaning. The creatures quickly went back to watching the forest.
Infinity pressed her finger to her lips and made sure each of the other humans saw the gesture.
More time passed, at least another fifteen minutes.
Some of the lemurs had begun shifting back and forth, apparently agitated. Several whimpers and soft whistles arose from individuals in the group but were quickly silenced by stares from the others.
Then, a long, warbling cry filtered through the trees from a distance, the same victory cry the children had used in their performance. The crowd responded almost immediately, filling the air with the same warbling cry. Some of the ring-tails turned to each other and exchanged the rapid, finger-touching gesture Infinity had seen earlier between the two juvenile girls. There was no mistaking the elated mood of the crowd.
As the lemurs celebrated, Infinity watched the forest, expecting the hunted lemur to return victorious. But several minutes passed with no sign of him, and the crowd’s enthusiasm began to fade.
One of the lemurs barked and pointed into the trees. Infinity looked. She saw movement—something approaching. It was the male lemur returning, but one side of his body was covered in blood, and his left arm was dangling loosely from his shoulder. He stumbled and fell, and the crowd surged forward to provide assistance.
Infinity, caught up in the excitement, ran with them, followed by Desmond and the others.
The Trial of Extinction Page 12
