by Musser, Dale
“That sounds like a serious problem. How do you get around that issue?” I asked.
“There are several ways. For instance, the use of a kind of ultrasonic device seems to scramble their insides if they get too close. Applying the saps of certain plants to your skin will also repel the rubloids.”
“We tried double-weave electric-net screen on the expedition when I was here,” said Kerabac, “but it didn’t work well, as the rain and moisture kept shorting out the circuits. In the end we just gave up and bathed our skin with foccee before we went out, which was rather effective. It seems the little buggers don’t like foccee very much either.”
“Hmmm, I’ll have to try that and make a note of it for my reports if it works. Foccee hasn’t been reported as a remedy in any documentation I’ve seen thus far,” remarked Hotyona.
So it went, every few minutes some new fact on the flora and fauna would emerge. I had asked for it and I was getting it. Kerabac, on the other hand, tended to present more information on the natives and their customs and lifestyles that he gleaned from his past excursions to the surface.
“This culture has strange mating habits,” he said. “Women play the primary role in the mating rituals. They woo and select their mates instead of men taking the lead in romance. Men may flirt with women, but it is the woman who makes the selection and asks the man to be her mate. When a woman is looking for a mate, she and a chosen male go off to her sleeping and living area, where she fixes him a meal. If he eats it, they might then have sex. If she finds him satisfactory, she invites him back again, until she is sure she wants him. Once she has made her decision, an announcement is made before the tribe that he is her man, which means he is no longer available to any women in the tribe. Should he stray and have a sexual relationship with another woman while he is claimed, he is castrated and banished from the tribe and the woman who seduced him is put to death. However, should his partner decide she no longer desires him as a mate, she makes an announcement to the tribe that he is not wanted, in which case he must then leave the tribe and find a new one to join.”
“So the women run the tribes,” I said.
“No, not at all. Rule is by tribal council under an elected leader. There are both males and females on the council, all of whom are chosen by the members of the tribe. Once elected to their posts, they serve for life or until voted off the council by the tribal members. The council elects one person among them to serve as the leader; but his or her power is limited by the council and it is not absolute. The leader can make decisions for the tribe in daily matters; however, if the council doesn’t agree with a decision or if they are displeased with the outcome, they have the collective power to revoke the decision in favor of another solution. Too many repealed decisions and the leader is removed from their role and replaced by another member of the council.”
“What are the people and their villages like?”
“Well, as far as anyone knows, there is one race of people who are mostly about A’Lappe’s height but much thinner. Their eyes and irises are pointed at both the medial and lateral ends, more sharply than with most humanoids, and the iris is oval and not round. You won’t see any overweight Allebammians; they’re mostly arboreal, though they do come down to the ground in their search for some food items. They’re also good swimmers and don’t hesitate to go into the water to spear fish. It’s a good practice to watch where they swim, as they will not enter water where a drodoceal is present. How they know exactly when a drodoceal is present is a question I would like to have answered; but if you ask, all they will say is Drodoceal is not where drodoceal is not.
While Hotyona was providing this background, Kerabac retrieved a vid pic of an Allebammian native male. The first thing that struck me were the patterns on his skin that looked much like patterns used on camouflage fabrics back on Earth. Kerabac said that these were natural pigmentations and that no two natives had the same patterns. When standing against a jungle background, they were nearly invisible. They had no eyebrows or facial hair and, except for the dark brown hair that hung roughly to the shoulders, they appeared to be devoid of hair anywhere else on their bodies.
My thoughts shifted back to the alligator-like drodoceal, which seemed like it would be a rather formidable opponent for these rather small people. “Are drodoceals herding animals?” I asked as I laughed to myself. I knew that a group of lizards was called a lounge, but I always found that term awkward. Besides, I didn’t know how to ask precisely in Federation language whether drodoceals were “lounging” animals. The right term seemed to be absent from the vocabulary.
“Hardly, said Hotyona. “They can’t seem to stand each other and will fight off or kill any drodoceal that enters their territory. They are notorious for eating their own young, as well, which accounts for their relatively low numbers. And unlike amphibians or reptiles on most planets, they give live birth to their young. The young are born while the female sleeps, after which they quickly scurry off into the jungle before she awakens. The only time they are receptive to company is during breeding season, during which the female will travel miles to find a male. Males put out a very pungent odor that females seem to be able to detect at great distances, despite the persistent wet and rainy environment. Only when fertile do females emit an odor, though it is less pungent and more comparable to a spice-like scent. Again, that’s only when they’re fertile; the males stink all the time.”
“So if I smell something spicy, I should run; and if I smell something really pungent, I should run?” I said jokingly.
Hotyona grinned and continued, “I would suggest you climb a tree. Drodoceals are surprisingly fast runners and can easily catch you, but they cannot climb. You’re safe once you get about two meters off the ground.”
“They can be killed, I assume?” I asked.
“Yes, a good shot between the eyes usually does the trick. Body shots don’t seem to stop them however. The natives use a spear to stab them between the eyes. They carefully sneak up on them while they’re asleep and kill them with a quick and hard thrust. They use the hides and eat the meat of the legs, tongue and tails. The meat in the rest of the body is too gristly to eat.
“But back to the natives… the tribes all seem to believe universally in the same deity, a god they call Thumumba, a word which also means thunder in their language. They believe that Thumumba is in everything, including themselves, like a life force that they believe also has intelligence and control over all things. Thumumba is not a personal god that responds to the prayers or voices of individuals; rather, many must join together to implore the favor of this god in hope their prayers will be answered.
“In their belief system Thumumba is neither a just god nor an unjust god; Thumumba cares only about the survival of the world in general; and the needs of a single individual are insignificant in that regard. Thumumba is neither male nor female. The natives believe that all things are part of Thumumba, who created all things out of Thumumba’s own being. They do not give sacrifices to Thumumba, but they do celebrate their god in dances and rituals meant to show respect and reverence.”
And so it went daily as we traveled to Alle Bamma. I learned that the natives seldom wore clothing other than a belt or a shoulder bag to carry items for daily use, both of which were made from drodoceal hide or woven plant fibers. I found that the natives were in many ways similar to tribal jungle-dwelling tribes on Earth, such as those in the rainforests of New Guinea and the Amazon. Like the Earth tribes, the Allebammians hunted their food using bow and arrow, spears, and short blow guns.
We had been traveling approximately three and a half weeks when Kerabac woke me to say that Alle Bamma was in sight and that he had turned on our cloaking device. Kerabac thought it best that we try landing at the location where he had been years earlier. He entered the coordinates into the computer but didn’t activate them immediately. We decided we would circle the planet a few times to see whether we could identify any sign of the Brotherhood, but we didn’t
see anything out of the ordinary. Nevertheless, we decided to remain cloaked and hide the ship once we had landed. Landing was not as easy as we thought it would be. In the years since Kerabac’s visit the jungle had advanced to claim the landing site that had been cleared for the ship at that time. Instead we were forced to move on to a nearby lake that had a wide, gravel-covered shore that was relatively flat and free of vegetation. I was impressed with the size of the trees in the surrounding jungle, many of them reaching heights in the hundreds of meters and diameters of up to 75 meters. Where the jungle met the gravel bed was a grove of very large trees spaced many meters apart. The broad space between trees at the ground level and the extremely dense canopy overhead provided ideal cover, at least to conceal the ALI from aerial view. Hotyona explained these were I’aban trees, a species that leached large amounts of minerals from the rich soil and deposited these metallic compounds in the leaves. Hence, a canopy of such trees not only concealed the ground visually, it also shielded anything beneath it from aerial scanners or space detection instrumentation. So unless a craft flew down to the surface level and over the lake where they could peer under this canopy, it was unlikely the ALI would be detected.
With the ALI safely hidden we were ready to venture forth into the jungle and begin our search for ruguian eggs. As soon as we opened the hatch we were hit by a wave of hot moist air. Our sensor reading showed CO2 levels that were somewhat higher than inside the ship and a humidity level of 98%. Almost instantly we began to perspire and our clothing stuck to our skin. The air was filled with the familiar rich scent associated with a damp forest or greenhouse full of plants. Numerous squeaks, chirps, whistles and buzzes could be heard coming from the jungle around us as various creatures called for mates, heralded our presence, or communicated whatever other message their noises may have represented. We wore standard body armor at Kerabac’s suggestion “for protection from the jungle itself,” as he put it. He explained that there were several species of large plants with long sharp thorns that could be launched up to five meters like an arrow or projectile for the purpose of killing any creature in its path. The plants then derived nourishment from the decaying carcasses as the nutrients seeped into the ground. Other thorned plants didn’t release their thorns but instead had rows of them attached to long spring-like branches that tripped on contact, whipping outward and impaling anything in their range. The armored leggings would protect us from such plants, as well as smaller animals that might try to bite us, though Hotyona insisted that it was very unlikely anything smaller than a drodoceal was likely to attack.
A’Lappe had told us before we left the NEW ORLEANS that he would require nearly 500 grams of ruguian eggs to produce the anti-toxin; but it would be unlikely we would find more than a few grams at a time; so we were both surprised and elated when we discovered a small 50-gram gelatinous blue mass under the fronds of a giant fern shortly after leaving the ship. Hotyona confirmed that they were indeed ruguian eggs and placed them in a small stasis container and began searching the surrounding area for more. However, several hours of searching proved futile. Other than the ruguian tracks in the mud that led away from the site, there was no sign of more ruguians or eggs.
One problem we encountered was that our navigational tools failed to work properly, most likely because of the I’aban trees. It was only when we were out from under this grove into an area where the canopy was not laced with minerals and metals that we were able to obtain a clear signal and get our bearings. I asked Kerabac about the devices and how they were able to triangulate without satellites. He explained that the instruments were designed to read the radio signatures of various stars and compute the exact location of anything on the surface from a combination of these signatures, much like the navigation systems on the ALI, the NEW ORLEANS and other ships, only on a smaller scale.
It was mid-afternoon when we landed and began our search; and before we knew it, evening was upon us. Darkness descended quickly under the canopy and the sounds of life in the jungle around us grew louder as we made our way back to the ship. I didn’t realize just how comfortable the ship’s interior could be, until the door was sealed and the environment filters adjusted the CO2, humidity and temperature levels to simulate the atmosphere that we were accustomed to inhabiting. Kerabac and I fared much better than Hotyona. The sweltering conditions on Alle Bamma were quite similar to those of the swamps where I grew up; and Kerabac had been to Alle Bamma before and knew what to expect. Hotyona, on the other hand, had not bothered to drink much water, so he was quite dehydrated and feeling poorly by the end of the day. However, after slowly drinking a liter and a half of water and eating a delicious bowl of some kind of stew that Kerabac brought from the synthesizer, he seemed to recover and feel normal once more.
Originally we planned to drop off two of the team and return the ALI to an orbit above the meet point until the NEW ORLEANS arrived; but the fact that we could not keep the ship cloaked for more than a few hours at a time convinced us that it would be better to keep the ship on the surface and hidden in the jungle.
On our second day out we didn’t find any ruguian eggs, but we did come across a ruguian. It was slow and sluggish in its movements and it was very obvious that it had no fear of being bothered or eaten by a predator. We tried back-tracking along its trail in hopes of finding some eggs, but to no avail. As we traced our own tracks back to the ship, Kerabac said, “Keep moving and don’t act suspicious, but glance down at our tracks on the trail.” I did as he said and noticed the imprints of small, bare human-like feet overlaid on the tracks we had previously made.
“Do you think they’re still around?” I asked.
“I’m sure of it,” said Kerabac. “I suggest we act as though we are unaware of their presence and let them be the ones to make contact.”
As we moved further down the trail, I tried to look about the jungle casually without appearing to be looking for anything in particular, but I failed to see anyone or note anything out of the norm. I asked Kerabac, “Do you think they will attack us?”
“I doubt it. They prefer to avoid contact with outsiders; but one never knows.” It took us nearly an hour to reach the ship, during which time we didn’t see even a single native. We made doubly sure the hatch was sealed for the night before going to bed. The next day when we exited the ship to begin our search, we were shocked to find the head of a drodoceal mounted on a pole near our hatch.
“Please tell me this is a welcome and not what I think it means,” I said.
“I wish I could,” said Kerabac, “but I fear it means precisely what you fear it does. We obviously are not welcome here.”
“Perhaps we should relocate. There don’t seem to be a lot of ruguians in this area anyway.”
Hotyona spoke up and said, “According to my research, ruguians are constantly on the move; and though they don’t appear to deliberately congregate, they are most likely to be found in greater numbers near their typical food sources.”
“What do they eat?” I asked.
“Reports indicate they are herbivorous; but I have no real data on specific food preference.”
“When I was here before, I noted several of them eating blossoms from a bush,” said Kerabac, “but I don’t know if that was a preference or coincidence.”
“It well could be a preference, as there are many animal species that prefer to eat blossoms.”
“There doesn’t seem to be much in the way of flowers here,” I said. “Everything is green or gray. Again, maybe we should relocate. On the other hand, if we could make contact with the natives, perhaps we could find a way to recruit them to help us locate the eggs.”
“At this point I don’t think recruiting them is a good idea,” replied Kerabac. “My vote is we move.”
“I would agree with Kerabac,” said Hotyona. “According to what I’ve been able to find in the plant catalog, there should be numerous plants in bloom year around that would attract ruguians, if they do, in fact, prefer flowers.”
I wasn’t sure how much of what I was hearing was prompted by true concern over finding ruguian eggs and how much of it was because of the drodoceal head mounted on the pole that morning; but I was willing to look elsewhere, if it meant finding more eggs.
Kerabac carefully navigated the ship out of the cluster of I’aban trees and over the gravel beach. Fortunately, he had turned on the cloaking device before leaving the cover of the canopy, because we were barely out in the open when the sensors alarms were triggered, indicating the presence of another ship. We had been on Alle Bamma for only two days and we knew it would still be several days before the NEW ORLEANS arrived; so we were immediately on the alert. Kerabac checked the screens and announced that it was a small armed fighter, similar to those used by several of the non-aligned worlds. These ships were manufactured on planets that were known for specialized production of all kinds of arms and military equipment. Kerabac said the ship could belong to a mercenary, a pirate or the Brotherhood; there was simply no way of telling. I wished that we had A’Lappe with us to attempt to intercept any communication to and from the ship; but he wasn’t, so we simply retreated some distance away and watched as it circled about the lake and then slowly headed off.
“Do you think they’re aware that we’re here?” I asked.
“I doubt it,” said Kerabac. “But someone is obviously patrolling the area to look for something or someone. It may simply be a routine patrol; but I think we need to be careful. There shouldn’t be anyone here at all, let alone a fighter. If it were a prospector or drug company looking for new plants to research for medicinal purposes, they would have been in a small research ship or transport and certainly not a fighter. I recommend we find a new place to hide quickly, before our cloaking time is used up.”
