Under the Shadow of the Plateau: Frontier Forever

by Benjamin Krieger

  The first time he and Frank had launched the train out the side of his Mechanicsburg penthouse was the closest Morton had come to the rocky beach of his dreams since the crater. His mobilized office still had the same ornate interior, but the outside was heavily armored. Aerodynamic features like a tilted roof and a plow made it look a little less boxy, and vaguely like an Old Earth locomotive engine, hence the name. None of that mattered though, because Frank had since installed a force field generator that projected a streamline bubble around them.

  Isolation had been an important part of his recovery, and inside his clock tower he felt safe, but there was always someone outside who wanted something. Not only had the train helped him to get out and visit those people, it afforded him the ability to get away from them at any moment. It had cost him countless hours spent separated from the outside world, while working on it with Frank, but mobilizing his office had been their biggest single step towards realizing that he didn’t want to shut everyone out any longer. Cruising above his neighbors’ homes and businesses and into the majestic beyond was liberating, and only then did he realize that he had been using solitude to limit his amazing generosity, so he decided to stop.

  A few seconds later, he and Frank were both unconscious. Their transition onto the desert floor had been smooth enough, but Frank had miscalculated the capacity of the inertial dampeners and the lack of wind resistance from the shield they were using, so their forward momentum was enough to knock them out cold. They woke up in the middle of nowhere, comfortably coasting along their original trajectory. At the time, Frank had said, “We can’t let little setbacks detract from so much progress.”

  Inspired by his henchman’s words, Mister Morton recommitted himself to his business. The reason he had so many good friends and partners was because he was good at giving, and it helped him to remember that. Despite what people said about him being greedy or selfish, he enjoyed sharing his wealth of abilities with others. Not only did giving make the recipient happy, it felt good to be owed something in return, and he couldn’t understand why everyone didn’t see things that way.

  Since then, Frank had been making continual improvements to the train’s safety features, and Morton had begun to dream again. They had taken a few tours to see what remained of their ring of desert sweatshops, visited various associates, and even started going to the bar on occasion. Riding atop magnetic fields that were forbidden by the embargo, Morton had felt young again, and remembering his youthful search for the ocean of his dreams sent a sudden surge of fury through his body. He was able to stand up. He slammed his fists down into their grooves and yelled through tightly clenched teeth, “Cad flab it, Frank! We’re going to the bar!”

  Mid-rivet, his henchman dropped the protective smock and mask he had been wearing and began prepping the train.

  Chapter Eleven

  The Starrletts

  As he did most mornings, Lincoln woke up comfortably pinned under a pile of his brothers and sisters. He was part of the second youngest litter that was allowed to sleep away from their mother, Marion, the matriarch of their herd. Not too far away, she was sleeping with the two youngest litters of gorillion cubs, while the older gorilla-lion hybrids were scattered throughout the jungle, sleeping wherever they wanted. Their father, Goliath, was somewhere up in the trees with his full-grown gorilla children. Marion had a number of full-lion children too, but they had all joined other herds or started their own.

  Back when Marion had taken Goliath as her mate, she had become the leader of one of the planet’s largest, most progressive herds. That made their children royalty in a way, and although there was no formal succession of power, and none of the full-blooded children on either side of the union had gained or lost any claim to leadership, many of them felt disenfranchised. No one talked about the rifts between lions, gorillas, and their mixed siblings; but there were reasons why they ate and slept separately. Lincoln felt like he always got along well with everyone. Especially when he was a cub, he had loved roughhousing with the gigantic gorillas. Once he had blinded Zed in one eye but it really was an accident.

  The gorillion prince didn’t like to consider himself special, or better than anyone else, but he was an undeniable alpha. At only twelve years old, Lincoln had already outgrown some of the older gorillions, and Marion said he might even be bigger than Goliath one day. Scavengers loved Lincoln because he was a notoriously sloppy eater and far more carnivorous than any of the purebred gorillas. He had the best traits of both his parents—his mother’s keen feline instincts, sharp claws, and his father’s size and opposable thumbs—it was hard to imagine a more fearsome fighter or climber. His forearms were finally starting to lose their juvenile proportions, and his mane was coming in nicely. Everyone was looking forward to seeing what he would look like full-grown.

  Lincoln loved his parents more than anything in the world, and he couldn’t make up his mind as to which one he wanted to be like more. Aside from snakes and spiders with deadly venoms, Lincoln couldn’t imagine a creature more dangerous than Goliath. Even though no one had ever survived a fight with him, his father still received occasional challengers. Marion did not. She was a better hunter, and she could probably win a duel against anyone else, but her speed and agility would have been no match for Goliath’s size and weight in a deathmatch.

  Lincoln still didn’t understand romantic love, but he understood why his father supported his mother’s regency. One time, he had been complaining about his mother being too strict, and Zed had said that life under Marion’s rule was infinitely better than it had been under their father’s. At first Lincoln thought he was joking, because as terrifyingly huge as Goliath was, he was much more laid back than his mother. Then Zed clarified, “She definitely has more rules, but that’s actually a good thing. The problem with King Dad was you could never tell what was going to piss him off. We would be raising absolute hell and he would just keep eating. Then, a minute later, someone would fart funny and he’d be tearing down half the jungle. It was intense.”

  Nowadays, the great ape spent most of his time eating whatever dense patch of foliage he happened to be sitting in. Lincoln appreciated his father’s mostly vegetarian diet—feasting on the fine leaves and fruits that were literally everywhere in the jungle was a great way to spend an afternoon. He knew he had to chew on lots of branches if he wanted to have mastication muscles like his father’s, so he did. But as much as Lincoln loved spending time grazing in the trees, hunting with his mom was his absolute favorite way to eat.

  It was clear from their teeth that gorillions were supposed to be omnivorous, but Marion had been cultivating his bloodlust from a young age. The first time he had to do the actual killing, he had been a little reluctant, but now he couldn’t imagine anything more satisfying than running alongside his siblings to take down prey and ripping the flesh from a steaming carcass. He still felt bad about eating certain species, especially cute ones like rabbits and stoats, so he often gave those morsels to his younger siblings. He felt tension between his dietary heritages, but fortunately, he had the type of parents who would never make him choose.

  Marion was blatant about holding their children to higher standards than other animals, and constantly lectured them about how their social status didn’t make them immune to life’s dangers. When Lincoln was younger, she would tell him bedtime stories wherein members of their own herd were coming to snatch him up. He had always claimed not to be scared, and hadn’t told anyone about the nightmares he had during his first few nights away from her, but now he loved sleeping in the pile. It was always so warm and smelled so good. He couldn’t understand why his older siblings had grown out of it.

  Normally he was one of the last gorillions to get up, but a dream about breakfast stirred him. Giving off steam in the cold morning air, the pile of monkey-cubs heaved as they breathed in near unison. Despite being one of the bigger bodies, Lincoln was completely enveloped by his siblings. Reaching out with one hand first, he fished around, f
ound purchase on his brother’s hip and pulled until his head poked free. With a deep breath of fresh air, he oozed himself out onto the jungle floor. Still too tired to stand up or even open his eyes, he decided to lay there for a little while longer.

  Dreaming again about the impending breakfast hunt, Lincoln found himself in a wide open field surrounded by hundreds of impossibly large fatty green ground grubs, which were his absolute favorite snack. He pounced from one to the next. Warm liquid burst out from their crisp, delicious carapaces and ran down his tongue, lips, and chin. The globby flopping sound they made grew louder and closer, and eventually became so enticing that the disappointment of a missed bite woke him.

  After pinching himself, for the odds of such a delicious creature surviving a night so far inside the herd’s perimeter were slim, Lincoln could still hear it. Silently thanking his lucky stars for sending him such a delightful treat to tide him over, he rolled onto his stomach and kept as low to the ground as he could while crawling towards the noise. Obscured by a small ridge and low plant growth for a majority of his approach, Lincoln leapt onto a thin and flexible tree to slingshot himself down upon the helpless creature.

  Midair, two human arms wrapped around the gorillion’s waist and started squeezing the air out of him. His eyes bulged as he tried to inhale. He could not scream. Feeling his vision fade, he clawed desperately at the shoulders of the man behind him. His mind clouding, Lincoln wondered how a poacher managed to get this far into Starrlett territory without being noticed. He hoped that he was still dreaming, then without warning, he was released.

  Spinning away from his assailant, he tumbled gracelessly onto the ground. Squinting to clear tears from his eyes, he nearly cried out in alarm before recognizing the blurry figure.

  Tall, thin, and wearing an impressive new feather stuck through the bun atop his head, Rhodes whispered provocatively, “What’s up, mutt?!”

  It hadn’t been all that long since they saw each other last, but Lincoln couldn’t contain his excitement. Rocketing towards his best friend, he yelled far too loudly, “Mutt?!” Slamming into the human’s chest audibly knocked the wind out of him, and Lincoln yelled again, “Serves you right, you son of a dying race! You realize my parents are going to kill you?!” Laughing, Lincoln tried to initiate a leg lock takedown, but Rhodes rolled out of it, so he sank his upper fangs into his calf instead.

  “Runt!” Rhodes screamed in pain. “You think I’m stupid enough to try to sneak past Goliath!? Obviously I announced myself...” He fell forward to break his brother’s hold, then wrapped his arms under the gorillions comically short hind legs. With all his strength, he used a modified suplex maneuver to launch Lincoln as far as he could. “I was trying not to wake everyone up! You’re the one they’re going to kill.”

  “You called me a mutt!” Lincoln slammed back into him and they continued to grapple. “You think Mom’s gonna take kindly to that? I’m the best of both worlds baby... OWW! Or maybe I’ll just eat you!”

  “She said I can come back whenever I want!” Rhodes replied, trying not to laugh. “The ban was officially lifted, bro.”

  “I know!” Lincoln yelled again, this time realizing how loud he had been and continued in a whisper, “I was the one who made that happen! But now I’m going to tell them that you’re a poacher or something. And you want to know why they’ll believe me? Because you people all look the same to us!”

  With a menacing purr, Marion interrupted, “It’s a little early in the morning for this.” Both boys froze under the lioness’ gaze. “I’m going to kill you both.” Standing at the edge of the clearing with her youngest cubs crawling close behind, her voice was dangerously sharp, but laughter shone in her eyes. “I cannot believe you fell for that, Lincoln... but those were some pretty good fatty grub noises. And thank you for making your arrival known, Rhodes, but seriously, did you not realize how your little joke was going to rile up your brother? C’mon. Use that big brain of yours.” All three of them were fighting back smiles now, but Marion’s voice remained flat. “Anyway, I’m sure you’re both hungry. We’ll go out for breakfast here shortly. Welcome back, Rhodes.”

  With the train of cubs trailing behind her, Marion started to walk back the way she had come. She was glad to see the young tribesman, but also worried about how warmly she had welcomed him back. Not long ago, she would have killed any human who came so close to her children, but he and Pathos had become sons to her. The problem with people was that once there was one, more were bound to come. The whole Onondaga tribe seemed to be comprised of good people, but the lioness didn’t want the herd to lose their natural fear of humans.

  The Starrletts had met the Onondaga during a time of great hardship. Territorial disputes had forced Marion to parlay with a number of different tribes, and after several hours of tense debate, the Chieftain had surprised her with an invitation to their annual solstice festival. Of course, Marion had declined, but the invitations continued to come. After observing the festivities from the surrounding darkness for several years, curiosity got the better of her, and she decided it was safe enough to attend.

  Lincoln had barely been walking then and didn’t remember any of it, but that was when he had first met Rhodes and Pathos. It made sense that he had been drawn to the dynamic duo; the bond between them was magnetic. The Dakota tribes didn’t have social classes, much less royal families like the Starrletts, but they recognized that the twins were something special. Even at their young age, they were strong, popular, well-spoken, and accomplished hunters. They were a few years older than Lincoln, but animals and humans matured differently, and the friendship between them had been fast and firm.

  Over the years, Rhodes and Pathos spent enough time living with the herd to become part of it, and they experienced life in ways that few humans ever had. Marion’s heart broke the day she heard Pathos was missing, and it continued to crumble as she saw how it weighed on Rhodes. She had lost children, and seen grief destroy countless families, but it was as if the poor boy had lost a piece of himself. Sometimes she worried that Goliath might hurt himself during one of his temper tantrums, and the fire inside Rhodes was even less predictable. She yearned for a way to mend her broken human son but did not know what to do.

  Nevertheless, Marion wished she hadn’t been so nice to him just then. Coddling was not what he needed, and she didn’t want her gorillion cubs to think that was an appropriate way to interact with people. Without stopping, she turned to shout over her shoulder, “Actually, you two are on your own for breakfast. I don’t want you riling up the cubs.”

  Lincoln remained frozen until she was out of sight and then collapsed into an exaggerated death upon the jungle floor.

  Rhodes dusted himself off as he stood up. Laughing, he jived, “What, you’re tired already? You woke up like two minutes ago.”

  “Tell me you brought me a grub or die,” Lincoln replied with his eyes still closed. Rhodes put his hands against the ground to make the grub sound again and Lincoln pounced on him. Whispering threateningly, “You just cost me my breakfast, you schlub! You’re going to have to make this up to me. I’m a growing boy and I don’t have energy to waste wrestling a weakling like you.”

  “You’re flapping your gums just fine,” Rhodes said as he slid around Lincoln’s waist for a skillful takedown. The gorillion rolled backwards to crush him, but his human brother saw it coming and leapt into a tree. “Can you jump this high yet? Or still? I don’t know, you went from being too little to too fat too quickly for me to keep up.”

  Lincoln accidentally let out a loud howl of amused anger but stifled it as he followed the tribesman into the canopy.

  “You wanna go see your dad?” Rhodes asked, playfully keeping his distance from the gorillion. “We can go eat with him if you want, I know where he is.”

  “No. I want meat,” Lincoln replied testily. Then more concerned, “Wait, you traveled all night? How long have you been in camp? What are you even doing here? Where’s your warclub?”

>   “I stashed it.” Rhodes didn’t know how to answer the other questions.

  Jumping to his most hopeful conclusion, Lincoln shouted too loudly again, “Holy cajoles! Are you staying?!” The gorillion shared none of his mother’s guilt about wanting his human brother to be part of the herd.

  “No, I’m going ranging again. Wanted to see if you’d come,” Rhodes replied.

  Normally, Lincoln loved to go on adventures with his brother/best friend, but correctly assuming this was the continuing search for their missing brother Pathos, he had reservations. “Why did you show up in the middle of the night then? What’s wrong?”

  Rhodes replied as lightheartedly as he could, “What’s wrong with showing up in the middle of the night?”

  “I mean, nothing I guess,” Lincoln said, avoiding the bait. “Obviously you did it right because Goliath didn’t smash you, but it would have been easier in the daytime...”

  “I just wanted to surprise you, is all,” Rhodes said with a false chuckle, but he could tell from Lincoln’s deadpan stare that he wasn’t buying it. With a sigh, he hung his head and admitted, “I got kicked out.”

  Inwardly, Lincoln had already known, but he asked with surprise, “What do you mean?!”

  “They revoked my manhood,” Rhodes explained solemnly.

  “They cut it off?” Lincoln asked, this time in genuine shock. “Why the hell did they do that?”

  “What? No man, not that manhood,” Rhodes snapped. “The coming of age test, the one that made me a man.”