Mafkona had already moved about ten meters from land, when two LC-1s emerged from the plants. One of them noticed the girl and wheezed menacingly. A moment later, a third, smaller creature, probably their whelp, joined the pair. The adults entered the lake without hesitation and rushed toward the girl. Although it soon became clear that in water they moved slower than a human. Realizing this, the animals returned back to the shore, without even swimming out five meters from it.
The alarm that had gripped her in the moment she’d seen the animals chasing her hadn’t even had time to take root in her heart. On the contrary, the girl immediately felt relieved when she realized that the beasts couldn’t catch her in the water. However, soon Mafkona understood that her joy had turned out to be premature. The predators, having left the pond, didn’t just stay still and look at her from afar.
They ran along the left side of the coast, where between the forest and the lake there remained a grassy strip about five meters wide. Their cub they’d left near the bushes. It gnawed at a small bone, holding it with its trunk.
Their prey swam very slowly, and seemingly the predators got bored with that, because they increased their pace, running around the lake and stopping right in the place where Mafkona planned to go ashore. This time they also entered the water, inadvertently preventing the girl from getting to the shallow water and taking a break.
Mafkona yet didn’t feel tiredness after slowly crossing this tiny pond there and back. However, she still needed to solve this unexpected problem. The girl, of course, knew that she couldn’t get out of the water and fight two predators with her bare hands. So she intended to swim again to the opposite bank and see what came of it.
At first, both LC-1s followed her along the coastline, but soon after only a dozen steps they parted. The larger animal returned to the tent, and the smaller one accompanied the human along the water’s edge.
It was pretty surprising for the girl when she realized that the animals had changed their hunting algorithm. Firs time she felt something cold inside of her heart. Floating on her back in the middle of the lake, she began to think about her situation. Should she stay in the water until Ama returned? How long would it take? What if he didn’t come until evening? She couldn’t swim for so long, so she had to contrive something.
Mafkona attentively surveyed the predators waiting for her, in the hope that maybe they were showing signs of impatience. Maybe they were about to lift the siege and look for easier prey. But no, the animals looked very purposeful, and gazed at her with their vibrating eyes.
She neared to the shore where the smaller beast waited for her. Having approached this animal to about five meters, she waved her right hand along the surface and pushed the water toward it. She wanted to see the reaction of the beast; maybe it would get scared and run away. The creature did actually retreat a bit, but immediately stopped and hissed angrily. Mafkona understood that the animals were not going to leave her alone. Instead, they intended to stay here for as long as was necessary.
The girl remembered that once she’d already found herself in a similar situation, when a predator had lain in wait for her. A second later, she realized that this “once” had happened just yesterday morning, when she, Ama and Omis, while on a boulder, were hiding from the BRLC-1. Remembering this, the girl grasped that the solution that worked then was unsuitable this time.
The girl continued to think. First, she considered the possibility of finding the stem of an aquatic plant and making a breathing tube out of it. Possessing such a device, she could have gotten underwater. Seeing this, they might decide that she had drowned and leave. Next it came to her mind that she could use the fact that the predators were separated by the lake. Maybe she could lure the smaller one into the water and drown it? They looked like really bad swimmers.
Moving her limbs, Mafkona stayed on the surface of the water and at the same time she looked for some suitable way out. Here she noticed that the whelp had dropped the bone and gone to the smaller adult who was constantly watching the girl. With its clawed trunk, the puppy scratched the side of its parent and in response the adult, without taking its eye off the lake, scratched the cub’s back. After that, the little beast turned and ran to the other adult, who waited for the girl near the tent.
The whelp had already covered half the way to the other parent, when suddenly a fourth animal jumped out of the bushes, and did it so neatly that not even a single leaf rustled. At the sight of this, it seemed to Mafkona that the water in the lake instantly cooled off several degrees. Simultaneously, she suspected that the absence of animals that she had observed so far had been deceptive. The beasts had only deliberately hid to lure her out of her shelter. However, she didn’t even have time to understand what the increase in the number of predators meant to her, when events flowed in a completely unexpected direction.
The new beast appeared to also be an LC-1, but larger than the parents of the cub. It didn’t head to the pond, and didn’t show any interest in Mafkona. Instead, it rushed after the puppy, crossing the clearing with long leaps. At the same time, to the predators occupied by the girl, as well as to their running descendant, it remained unnoticed.
The predator had almost caught up with the cub when it finally detected the enemy and wheezed with fear. The parents, as soon as they heard the voice of their heir, and then saw what was happening, immediately ran to save it. The hunt for Mafkona had ended.
The beast pursued the cub, but it did not run faster than the larger parent. The smaller one also raced to help its family. The attacker could hardly defeat two adult creatures, but apparently it had another plan. It would be enough for it to mortally wound the helpless puppy and run away. Later, when the parents had left the dead body, the attacker could return and eat it.
Soon it became clear that the little predator could also fight and not just be prey. When the enemy caught up with it, the whelp rolled onto its back and began to swing its short but pointed trunk. The assailant lifted its large trunk and swung it to hit the cub’s stomach. The little beast fended off this attack, but not completely. The big brute nevertheless broke through the puppy’s defense and as a result on the side of the small animal an oblong wound appeared, which immediately gained an orange color. The next moment the adult predator entwined the puppy’s trunk with its own and thus immobilized it. Now, it tried to grab the whelp’s left front foot with its teeth and bite it off.
The cub arced its body and bit the lower jaw of the enemy. The furious predator let go of the victim’s foot, shook the young rival off its head and was about to stick its teeth into the victim’s head in turn. The aggressor’s intention failed because of the puppy’s parents, whom he’d forgotten about in the heat of the fight.
The smaller of them reminded it of this circumstance, hitting the predator with a sharp “spear” in its side. The big brute hissed and turned around to respond to this unexpected blow, but at the same time he noticed that the second parent had also rushed to it. The beast realized that further struggle was useless. With a fierce wheeze, it turned to the forest and fled. Both parents ran after him.
As soon as this unexpected battle began, Mafkona immediately headed to the shore, and when she was approaching shallow water all three adult predators had already disappeared among the plants. The girl got to her feet and quickly ran out of the water. She immediately felt a cutting pain in her thigh. Right away, the belated thought came to Mafkona that she shouldn’t have jumped out of the water so quickly.
Again jumping on one leg, the girl went to the tent. She moved hurriedly, afraid to find herself still outside her shelter when the cub’s parents returned. She had already pushed aside the entry valve when she remembered her clothes left by the lake. Mafkona looked at her wet, naked body and thought. Then she looked at the forest. Maybe the animals were already coming back? But no, she saw nothing.
The girl pondered over this dilemma hastily. On the one hand, a lack of clothing wasn’t a problem. She wouldn’t freeze in a tent
in such heat. On the other hand, why couldn’t she take her things? When dressed, she would feel more comfortable, have a better rest, and therefore she would have more strength for the upcoming road. Finally, she made her decision and headed for the pond, jumping on one leg.
It turned out that the small frightened animal, having escaped from the battle, had stopped near her things. It had moistened part of its trunk at the base of the claw with its saliva, and was rubbing its wound with it. The approaching biped frightened the animal and it hissed loudly. Simultaneously, avoiding the new danger, it first ran along the shore, but after a few steps turned away from the water and rushed toward the tent. Running up to it, the cub let out a very high-frequency hiss, almost a whistle. Obviously, it was urging its parents to protect it from a new threat.
The colonists had always suspected it, but now Mafkona saw yet more evidence that the inhabitants of Neia heard much better than the earthlings. How else could it be explained that they were able to hear each other’s mute hiss at such surprisingly large distances? That was why it was impossible to encounter them while walking through the forest. It seemed that, without activating special gadgets, the colonists never could have detected them.
The girl made this conclusion after she’d stopped and stared with curiosity at the cub sitting by the tent. Then, just a couple of seconds after its hissing, she saw its parents jumping out of the bushes and dashing toward her to save their puppy from its new danger.
They quickly neared, at a distance of no more than twenty paces. Mafkona feverishly turned her head and looked at her shorts, T-shirt and underwear. The girl thought that a couple of jumps would be enough to get there and take her clothes. But at the last moment, when she remembered that she needed not only to get there, but also to go back to the tent, she changed her mind. She would be able to do all of this only if she used both her legs equally. Mafkona decided that now it would be wrong to load her sore thigh so intensely.
Before Ama arrived, nothing would happen to her clothes, and then the young man would kill the animals if they stayed here. The girl turned around and headed toward the tent, jumping on her healthy foot. When the two-legged creature came closer to the puppy, it hid in the den with its narrow entrance, which it had noticed earlier. The cub had apparently decided that such a tall creature couldn’t penetrate this grotto.
Mafkona didn’t have time to drive the animal out. So she just followed it into the tent and immediately glued the Velcro shut. After a few seconds, the adult LC-1s attacked her shelter and immediately tried to tear it apart with their claws and teeth. The flexible supports of the artificial cave bent under the onslaught of the predators, but, of course, they stayed intact.
These blind blows were unable to reach the girl, who stood in the middle of her shelter. Ensuring that the tent was protecting her reliably, the girl looked around and noticed the club that Ama had brought her yesterday. Last night she’d brought it here, and in the morning she’d left it in the tent, given that she was still unable to fight predators, and she could only hide here.
Over time, the animals’ attacks weakened, as apparently they got tired, or maybe because they didn’t see the results of their efforts. The girl took the stick and struck several reciprocal blows on the fabric. The activity of the predators decreased even more. Mafkona gained the opportunity to reflect on her situation. She remained in a tent surrounded by beasts, without clothes and in the company of a small predator.
The girl could have killed the captive with her club, but she decided not to hurry. The cub looked harmless. On the contrary, the frightened animal ran away from the girl and tried to pass through the wall. Not succeeding in this, it sat in the corner and hissed strangely as if complaining.
The girl doubted whether she would gain any advantage if she killed it. Maybe, in this case, the adults would get scared and run away, thinking that she could kill them too. But what if they got angry? Or should she let the cub return to them alive and then they might leave together? However, she would have to open the entrance for that…no, that would not be wise.
The frightened whelp still wanted to get out of the cave, but hadn’t grasped that the wall and the floor were a single piece of fabric, and its wish to infiltrate between them was unrealizable. It was trembling and wheezing plaintively. Frowning, Mafkona looked at it, still remaining indecisive.
It had always been forbidden to them, not only to touch, but even to approach Neian animals. Initially, the robots had destroyed all living things around the settlement. Later, the colonists themselves had continued to do this. The young people knew for sure—this was the only way to expand the colony, to establish earthly life on a new planet.
After this rather long reflection, the girl finally figured out what to do. She, as if forcing herself to cross some strange threshold, said seriously, “If I were an ordinary beast, like those whom you have seen so far, you would not have escaped death. But I am not an ordinary being. I can kill, but I can also not to kill. You animals can only kill. That makes all the difference.”
The girl’s appeal left the little creature in dismay. It continued to hiss and tried to move farther and farther away from her, pressing more and more into the wall. Its parents had already established the location of their cub by voice and the bulge on the tent. They approached this place and also gave out sound signals, sometimes calm and sometimes threatening, seemingly to intimidate Mafkona.
The girl neared the animal and lightly pushed at it with the end of the stick, just out of curiosity. This time, the small predator, instead of trying to move away, suddenly turned to her. Then it lifted its trunk and began gently pounding the club with its small claw, obviously playfully. This appeared completely unexpected for Mafkona.
“Being bitten and close to death, do you still play? Although, with regard to mortal danger, you do not know about it. You have never seen either a person or a cudgel.” the girl found an excuse for her new neighbor.
Mafkona allowed the animal to play a little more with the stick, and then set it aside. Next, after some hesitation, she laid her open palm on the puppy’s back and ran it over its skin, which turned out to be colder than that of earthly creatures. The cub tapped his claw painlessly on her arm, too.
This touch made the girl agitated. At the same time, she understood that she’d broken a rule; although in a situation that didn’t represent any hazard for her, still she’d committed something unauthorized.
The animal liked to play. It almost ceased to hiss and only occasionally let out quiet rales. Its parents, having heard this, also calmed down and began to make other, apparently invocative sounds. The puppy heard them and, leaving the girl, ran to the place from where it had entered this strange cave. Now it tried to find a way out of this grotto. After it again failed to do this, it turned to the human and hissed, seemingly sadly, or maybe it was demanding something.
Mafkona continued to amuse herself with the animal, as with a toy that she had never had. The dog’s puppies’ training had started almost immediately after their birth, without having fun with them. This attitude to them had been introduced by the robots, and the children had followed their example. The extra puppies were first killed with a blow of a club to the head, and then cut into small pieces and buried in the soil to enrich it with terrestrial organic matter.
Over time, the little animal lost interest in the game—the appeals of its parents were distracting it, and it increasingly exchanged wheezing with them. Mafkona used these pauses to look out the window and determine by the length of the shadows how many hours had passed since the rise of Ro.
One moment it seemed to her that she had caught something familiar, and at the same time she heard the wheezes of the predators moving away from her.
“What happened?” the girl asked her new comrade, and glanced through the window, from which she could see only parts of the pond and the forest on the opposite side of the clearing.
It turned out that the animals had rushed in the opposite dire
ction from the lake, toward something that she couldn’t see. The bigger predator, running in front of its companion, walked about another fifteen meters, and then for no apparent reason it fell to the ground and started to twitch. The other animal looked at its fellow, and then glanced to where they’d been running a couple of moments ago. Then it turned around and ran back into the forest along the lake shore.
Chapter 76
Bame and Em, having several times changed their course according to the guidance of the luminary, often approached a section of the forest where it seemed that light poured down not only from above, but also penetrated through the plants, as if from some open space behind them. In each case, the adherents of the natural way of developing a new humanity were afraid that the thicket had finally ended and they’d reached the open area of the colony’s pasture. But actually, each time they found themselves only at the next clearing. Now they entered one such place again, illuminated by the slanted rays of Ro.
At first, the comrades missed this fact, but then Em asked, “If we’d marched to the northeast, where would Ro have been shining from?”
Bame at first looked at him, puzzled, but when he understood the question, he stopped and stared up at the day-star. Soon after, he said, “Now it should be almost straight behind, but it is definitely in front of us.”
Em looked at him, but said nothing. In response Bame cast a quick glance at his cohort and after a long pause continued his speech with the appearance of a person who’d already grasped the situation but waited for a proper moment to speak about it. “I think that it does not matter anymore. The day is drawing to a close; we already have no time to set up an ambush.”
In response, Em, silent as before, scratched his chin, and then again stared inquiringly at his comrade. Bame said, without looking at him, “Our plan has ended in nothing; we must return.” He shook his head and resumed speaking: “I think we have to go back to the settlement. Also, I think it would be wrong to try to walk in a straight line, ahem, because we would get lost again.”
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