by Chris Hechtl
He had sent a dispatch ship back to the home herd worlds to call for reinforcements. He had sent along all of the data they had captured. He knew he wouldn't be the only one intrigued by some hypothesis that the aliens had somehow turned the dead planets into viable ecosystems. The timeline could not be possible however! Not so quickly! He shook his head and snorted as he cleaned himself up.
He went over to graze for his morning meal. He had heard that the aliens had growing spaces within their colony ship. The plants had been in neat rows with special lights, some stacked on racks from the floor to the ceiling. The machinery had kept most of them alive for a time, but then something had broken that his people couldn't figure out how to fix. The plants were wilting, dying.
It was a pity; according to some of the reports he had read, some of the plants were quite tasty. He'd ordered the growers to try to cultivate them on the food ship. They hadn't had any success. He shook his head as he checked the morning log.
His ships required daily upkeep maintenance to remain in top form. Unfortunately, engineering could not fabricate replacement parts in the field. The machine shops on the ships and in the repair ship were busy all the time coming up with bush fixes to various ailments. He made a note to check the alien ship for such things and for his people to take samples of their spare parts to examine. He should have sent samples along with the dispatch boat he thought in self-reproach.
He chewed his oats with a side-to-side motion and considered his options before he made another note. Some of the parts might be adapted to his own herd’s needs.
~~*^*~~
Broken Jaw scratched at his chin as he considered his assignment. He hated being in the alien ship. As a member of the herd guard force, one went where one was told however.
He still didn't know what to make of the alien crew or the colonists in rows in the holds of the ship. He knew some of the engineers were puzzling over the technology. Others had been ordered to delve into the alien's database.
He hadn't been happy when the aliens had started dying, but he hadn't been surprised. They'd lasted longer than people would have under such confinement; he would give them credit for that. But instead of allowing them to take their own lives, the powers that be had ordered that their lives be spared. The local healer had tried to feed them, but they'd been bewildered and listless. Some had been forcibly restrained.
At the healer's whit's end, he'd suggested allowing one to go to the alien's food preparation area and observe them. One of the aliens had been escorted there and allowed to eat. The being had trembled as it stuffed itself with food and then packed more in its textile coverings. It had brought the items back to share with the group.
From there the healer had ordered the bodies removed and frozen. The aliens were given a mop and bucket to clean the filth the best they could.
He tried not to inhale through his nose as he took up his station near the compartment door. Even with the cleaning, the place still stank. He decided at the end of his shift he would put in for a transfer.
~~*^*~~
The Alpha bull had a problem; there were no scientists in his fleet herd. The herd healers and a few of the engineers were the closest to a scientist they had available. Their lead healer took the time to examine a body to get an idea of how the enemy was built. A series of realizations came as the healer examined the body. When the Alpha bull had some free time, he came to learn the healer's findings.
“We are getting a lot of interesting tidbits. Their range of motion for one. We do not know their speed, but based on the length of the limbs, we can give you a rough estimate,” the healer explained.
“What else can you tell us that may be useful?” the Alpha bull asked patiently.
“We are trying to model their visual acuity and field of vision, but that might be beyond my lab's limited abilities. But I can tell you this, they are omnivores,” the healer replied.
“That has been confirmed?” the Alpha bull asked.
“Yes, but only after the dissection,” the healer stated. “Note the teeth of this one. And the stomach contents.” He held up a flask with fluid within it. “There is animal protein in there.”
The Alpha bull grimaced and looked away. “I'll take your word for it.”
“Look here,” the healer said, pointing to a nude body. “As you can see, this is a pair of lactating glands on its chest. This one is definitely female, though the location of the mammary glands is odd to say the least. She must bend over nearly double to feed her young! Or lay down or on her side, I suppose,” the healer mused. “I've run comparisons with our own female lactating glands. These function similarly. They were working as such before her death. That meant she had young recently.”
The Alpha bull rumbled in amusement. “I see.”
“But as to the various breeds … I'm afraid we run into a problem with that hypothesis.”
The Alpha bull froze. “Oh?”
“I obviously have only the one body. But I've examined it and examined images of the other bodies. I have also examined the images of the captives from their ship. I need to see more, but I believe we're looking at different species.”
The Alpha bull blinked in confusion. “How is that possible? Wouldn't they kill each other off?”
The healer shook his head. “One would think so, but apparently, this isn't the case. How and why I don't know.”
“Yes, that is useful. We need to know more.”
~~*^*~~
Desiring to know more about his race's enemy and if they really were more than one species, the Alpha bull dispatched forces to land on the planet. A small team of engineers and junior healers were among the group led by a junior engineer named Dreamer since he tended to get lost in thought. His boss was quite glad to get rid of him for some time.
Herd security assigned a massive bull known as Broken Jaw to them. Broken Jaw was not happy with the assignment but was more or less resigned to it. He became somewhat mollified when Dreamer sought out his opinion and treated him as a part of their small herd.
~~*^*~~
After the Healer's first alien autopsy, he remained curious. Since his duties on the ship were light, he took some time to look at the other samples of alien flesh from the captured ship. Many of the aliens had not survived in captivity. Herd security had given them water but had not been too concerned with food until the first of the group had expired. When the report of the aliens expiring had reached the alpha, the Alpha bull had ordered them to allow the aliens to feed themselves under supervision to preserve their herd for future interrogation.
As the healer examined the frozen bodies with his junior healers, more questions than answers arouse. The presence of so many different body types bewildered them. Only when a junior healer pointed out a male and female of one type did the healer group them together. They excitedly passed on their report to the alpha.
“Four species?”
“Five as of this morning. We may be seeing more,” the healer said, clearly awed. “The original assumption that there was wild species diversification was in error. We would need to do a genetic test to confirm it, but I no longer have doubts,” the healer said, showing him images of the bodies.
The Alpha bull grunted and waved the images away. He realized the healer had been right; they were different species. It was something he needed to think about. The healer might be awed by that news but it was of vital importance. They might be looking at multiple worlds, one for each species.
“We will pass your findings on to the herd. Good work, Healer,” he rumbled in rare praise.
As the healer withdrew, the Alpha bull thought about the implications. He needed to know more. He had assigned herd members to study the enemy but only in their off time. Some had gotten into images and had teased out clues but many more questions than answers like the healer had just brought forth.
Others were still puzzling over the enemy's database and language, while a small group continued to explore and catalog the capt
ured ship. The healer had ordered a group to get into watching videos of the remaining captives, but the observers were totally confused by the antics of the aliens.
The idea of multiple species was confounding. It went against the natural order of things. No two competing specie civilizations could work together, and it just wasn't possible! Yet, here they were, his mind insisted, damning him by their very presence. It was unnatural, wrong.
He knew that it would bring speculation on how it was accomplished. The healer’s report had pointed to similarities in some of the species. Could they come from the same world? Was that even possible? He shook his massive head at the idea. No, everything he'd learned said if more than one sentient species rose to power they would fight until one was dominant … wait, was that it?
He frowned pensively as he thought about that. The ones with little fur—there were more of them than the others. Were they a slave race? Or vise versa? He wasn't certain. He wasn't certain of a lot of things anymore he realized.
Since they had the time, he decided it was time to find out more. First, he ordered the bombardment of the alien habitats to end. Second, he authorized additional landings.
~~*^*~~
Herd security escorted each landing on Gaston. Since there were problems with the captive aliens, they took samples and images and initially focused on what the aliens ate and how they prepared the food.
On a dare, one of the herd tried a sample of the alien plant food; he found that they could digest it and that some of the food was quite tasty. That got passed around to the herd. Within a day, an order came down to gather up any alien food and resources for use by the herd.
Which made the explorer team's job that much harder.
Many of the Taurens who went down to the planet took trophies for their personal use or to trade with others in the ships. Usually they focused on small glittering objects or small electronic or mechanical devices.
A few like the Healer and Dreamer who were curious about the aliens tried to understand them more in their free time. Some of the herd did it out of genuine curiosity, others out of boredom or because some of their local herd drew them into the project on a challenge or to settle a dispute. Some did it because they were humoring a friend.
A few of the Taurens started to wish they'd looked at the aliens more thoroughly before the bombing had started. Dreamer got a copy of the recordings of the alien transmissions. He ran them through the language database that the computer techs were, building but he still couldn't understand the alien's speech enough to get a proper feeling of their message.
When his small explorer herd turned to looking at the meat animals that the aliens used as part of their omnivore diet at the healer's urging, things quickly changed.
They had seen strange beasts similar to their own appearance. They had hooves and similar faces and tails, but they were on all fours and were obviously nonsentient. When the team discovered what was being done with them, they were horrified. They presented their findings to the healer and others in a meeting on the flagship.
“And they eat them?” the lead healer demanded, horrified by the idea. It played on their worst fears, the fear of being eaten he knew.
“And drain their lactation glands for their own food,” the junior healer reported.
“This proves they are only worth exterminating,” Broken Jaw said from his place near the back of the compartment.
“Well, we've tested the soil and plants. They are viable for our species, though they do not have enough boron in them. We can eat them but will need supplements to keep our bones strong,” the healer mused.
“Ah. Well, eventually the herds that come and settle here can do something about these … weeds. Rid the planet of them and plant our own proper plants,” a grower said.
“If the soil will handle the change. That will also have to be tested,” another grower said.
“We will need samples of the soil as well as their tools. We may yet still learn something,” Dreamer said. “We are going down to the planet again tomorrow. We will need a list,” he said.
~~*^*~~
Dreamer led the team to one of the few remaining alien homes to explore. Once Broken Jaw declared the building clear, the Taurens went in and explored. It was tight quarters; the building's entry ways were not really built for their width and bulk. Frequently one or another of their herd would knock something over while exploring the various rooms.
“Quite confining. Efficient for heat but I wouldn't want to live in such cramped quarters,” Broken Jaw said. “I do admire the views,” he said, looking out a broken window to the vista of fields and hills beyond.
As they explored Dreamer discovered a mechanical toy in homestead. It was made out of polymer resin in the same color as the sun. It was simplistic, a cutaway of some creature with what looked like tusks. The automaton moved on four limbs and bobbed its head a little. “Fascinating. Quite possibly a child's toy,” Dreamer mused, examining the gearing. Whoever had built it had left a bit of flash and the gears were a bit sloppy though.
~~*^*~~
Arjen noted the Minotaur party with hating loathful eyes. Wherever the invaders went, they were invariably observed on the planet by the Terran survivors. His people were living hand to mouth; far too many had died due to the lack of food, medicine, or exposure to the elements.
He knew he wasn't the only one to feel so helpless and angry that they couldn't do anything about the landings. The aliens never lingered long; they just took what they wanted and left. By the time word got to those who wished to fight back, there was no time to get to them.
And radio calls were out. They had learned to remain silent on any radio frequencies and to hide their body heat.
He saw one of the Minotaurs with a weapon in his hands turn and scan the tree line. He felt his instincts kick in, his desire to sink into the bush and shadows, but fought it to a standstill. He only moved with the light breeze as he'd been taught, always in its direction and never away. After a moment, the alien looked away.
~~*^*~~
Broken Jaw flexed his jaw from side to side. Ever since he'd gotten into his first mating fight and had been mauled, the name had stuck. His jaw had never quite healed properly. He'd been vicious and victorious the following mating period however, goring his opponent severely to prove he hadn't been afraid.
“Let's get moving,” he growled.
“A problem?” Dreamer asked.
“I don't like this place. I don't like the smells. I know we are being watched,” Broken Jaw replied. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement in the tree line. His kind had a healthy respect and fear of the forest and areas that they couldn't see into. Their survival instincts told them predators attacked from those locations and such things carried on even into spaceflight. But whatever it was, it sank into the shadows, away from them so he continued to scan in other directions.
“Understood. We will be as quick as we can,” Dreamer replied.
~~*^*~~
The Alpha bull ordered his Taurens to look for industry on the planet. “Perhaps they use individual manufacturing?”
“Cottage industry as some of our herds do? That is possible for some components, but not all. This is obviously a colony given the lack of manufacturing,” Dreamer observed.
“We could have destroyed their industrial centers during the bombardment,” Broken Jaw pointed out.
“That is also true. Pity, we need to assess how they manufacture. I was curious as to what we might learn.”
“I believe the leadership was more concerned with the quality of their equipment and how quickly they can replace it,” Broken Jaw pointed out.
“That is true.”
~~*^*~~
Arjen moved from his observer position. The surviving Gaston farmers had begun to resist where they could. Snipers and traps were becoming common place as they learned how to fight back against the invaders. Unfortunately, the few hunting weapons they had were low on ammunition and of suc
h a low caliber that they were short ranged and didn't do any appreciable damage. The Minotaurs seemed to disdain the fire since it wasn't life threatening he knew.
Wherever they landed, the Minotaurs formed a perimeter and kept their people on a short leash.
He smiled nastily as he watched one of them enter one of the farm's outbuildings, the tool shed. They always seemed intrigued by Terran tools and things.
It was time to see if curiosity killed the Minotaur he thought.
~~*^*~~
Broken Jaw checked the perimeter and then entered the place where the aliens kept their tools. He'd long since learned to be careful and how to open their small doors. When he opened the door, nothing happened. As he shouldered through it however, something came flying at him from above.
He bellowed and threw himself down out of the way. His instincts played him false however; the floorboards had been pulled up and the tarp on the floor covered a pit of stakes.
He grunted in anguish as the stakes cut into the flesh of his arms, cheek, and legs. One impaled itself into his face perilously close to his eye before he managed to arrest his fall. He felt stakes touching his abdomen shell; some had broken. He bellowed in pain as he kept himself still.
Within an eighth of a minute, help came to get him out of the trap.
~~*^*~~
Arjen felt disappointment well up as he saw the alien being pulled out of the trap. The stakes hadn't hit anything vital; obviously, the weight of the beast wasn't enough to allow the stakes to penetrate the shell covering its vitals.
Always something new to learn he thought. But, he saw blood he noted. Each of the stakes had been coated in something pungent and nasty. With any luck the bastard would be sick or die from infection he thought blackly.
~~*^*~~
The Echo Herd dispatch ship from the hyperbridge arrived at the Fleet Herd's position while the Alpha bull slept. When he woke and had his morning feed, the Alpha bull was enraged when he read the news dispatch headings. He slammed his tablet down and threw his goblet. “I should have known he'd do something so reckless and foolhardy! When I get my hands on him, I'll have his balls to decorate my trophy wall!”
