****
After it was over, the first thing that Al did was retrieve the rifles from the shuttle. He was going to keep them close by from now on and would not be underestimating the dangers of the planet again. This event would change their whole perspective of life on Avalon.
There were three rifles in the shuttle. He and his remaining officer each took one, and the third he gave to one of the habitat specialists who was trained to operate a rifle.
They crowded around a portable lantern placed on a small table inside the banged up, but still intact habitat, discussing what had happened. The body of the security officer had been brought back to camp while the two dead creatures were left where they fell until morning. It was too dangerous to be out after dark.
Elizabeth was upset, as they all were, “That poor man, he didn’t stand a chance.” She added, “Why haven’t we seen any sign of these things before now?”
“We did find those footprints by the river…although they were smaller.” Suggested the town planner.
The security officer that survived the attack was still in shock. “It took out Rudy like he was a doll. We kept firing at it, and it just kept coming.”
“Who would have thought we’d be attacked by dinosaurs?…and they were so freaking fast,” the man with the third rifle said.
Al agreed, “They did look like dinosaurs, didn’t they?”
The town planner had been thinking and asked, “Did anyone notice the lizards? There must have been a dozen lizards running behind each of those beasts. Why would they do that?”
Al thought that maybe they were there for the left-overs, but he didn’t verbalize it.
Liz looked at Al with a puzzled look and asked, “How did you make it all the way back from the other side of camp so fast? One minute I heard you firing out by the cubes and the next you were here saving us.”
“I don’t know…it all happened so fast…I didn’t have time to think.”
“You more than likely saved us all,” she said and then quickly realized that was not quite right.
“Not all of us,” Al reminded her.
Al didn’t feel like talking, especially about himself. He had lost one of those for which he was responsible, and he would be one of the people speaking at his wake. As his commanding officer, Al probably knew him better than most. Rudy was not just a fellow officer; he had been a friend.
Al’s recommendation to the captain was to pull back and regroup. They needed to rethink this whole settlement idea. If they were going to find a place on this planet and survive, they would have to change how they did things.
At daybreak, Al instructed one of the autonomous drones to perform a search for the area the natives had indicated on his crude dirt map. On a ledge outside a network of caves on the side of the mountain, he was rewarded with a video of natives doing their morning rituals; men going out hunting, kids playing, and elders sitting around watching. The colonists needed information. They needed to know what the natives knew.
Later that morning they discovered that the dinosaurs they killed were not as they left them. During the night, they had been devoured, until all that was left were white bones. Everyone assumed the carnivorous lizards were responsible. The colonists needed samples of the creatures to study, so a few bones were gathered and taken with them.
They followed the captain’s orders to unload the shuttles and secure the site as best they could. Then everyone, including the unlucky Rudy, returned to the Excalibur.
****
They held the wake in the hangar bay with Rudy’s closed casket laying off to one side; behind a podium. Al and his closest friends were sitting at a table not far away while people took turns speaking at the rostrum.
Rudy had no family on-board, like most colonists, but he did have a lot of close friends. He was twenty-six and not only was he a good security officer, but he also held a master’s degree in agriculture. Rudy had looked forward to transforming Avalon into a sustainable world for the human race.
When Al’s turn to speak came around, he was apprehensive. He still didn’t know what he was going to say as he stepped up to the podium, with a crowd of almost three hundred people, Al was more than a little nervous.
He started with, “Rudy Labronski will be missed.”
Chief Clark stood looking at the crowd for a few seconds, listening to them murmur and clink their glasses in a silent salute. The crowd seemed to agree.
“He was funny, smart, and easily likable,” and as he spoke, the words came to him.
“Rudy believed in this mission, and he couldn’t wait to help this colony carve out a place on this planet. He told me more than once that he was looking forward to the type of life we would be building. He had no family except us. We were his family. There were eight hundred and thirty-two people that survived the trip here and as a contributing member, he played an important part. He gave his life to protect us.”
Al wanted everyone to know the significance of Rudy’s loss.
“He was the first to die on Avalon, and he will be the first to die for Avalon. We have lost a friend, but if not for Rudy, the attack would have been considerably worse.
“For all we know, we could be the last people to leave Earth. If we were able to return to Earth, it would not be the Earth we ran from, but much worse. This planet is where we settle the human race; right here on Avalon. Rudy knew that, and it excited him.”
Al’s mind took him back to the conversation they had in the shuttle on the way down to Avalon. Rudy had big plans for the colony; thinking ten and twenty years into the future.
“He was proud to be a member of this family, and I think he will be proud to be one of the first marked down in the Avalon history books. He will not only be remembered; he will also be famous.
There was hesitant clapping as Al took his seat. Most of them weren’t sure if it was appropriate to clap, with it being a wake and all, but they were all nodding approval.
The captain took the podium, cleared his throat, and said, “There is a personal file for every person on-board the Excalibur. In that file is a form that tells us what you want done with your remains in the event of your death. Rudy Labronski wanted to be buried on Avalon. It was his first and only choice. He added to that form, and included details such as: under a beautiful large tree, close to the mountains, with a river nearby. He was talking about Shangri-La.”
Captain Effinger stopped, hesitated for a second, and then continued, “We have decided he is to be buried there. At our first settlement. His funeral will be the second thing done when we go back down to the planet. There will be two shuttles, one for the funeral with room for twenty-five people and two pilots. The other shuttle we will load with equipment and personnel to secure the camp from…predators. The funeral will not begin until the compound is declared safe.”
He looked down, thinking about how to go on, “This is not the planet we hoped for. It appears that the long-ago dinosaurs of our Earth, never did become extinct on Avalon. We will be living side-by-side with these monsters and will have to make…adjustments.
“There will be security issues to deal with, and we will have to rely on each other to remain safe. Mister Clark is responsible for colony safety and is to be informed of anything that looks remotely dangerous.”
He gestured towards Al and nodded. Al grimaced, just a little, and nodded back.
The captain finished with, “We will post departure times and the passenger lists when ready. Please, people, let’s make Rudy proud.”
The wake broke up around eight, and everyone went their separate ways. Life must go on. The ones that knew him would remember him and move on. Those people that did not know him; would find moving on a lot easier.
Al wanted to be alone with his thoughts, so he and Robot Nine took a walk in the park. The little robot was an excellent listener and only spoke when necessary. Strolling the cobblestone paths, with the trees and grass all around, helped him relax and think more clearly. He was reali
zing that colonizing this planet would now be considerably harder than they had imagined. The discovery of Earth’s prehistoric equivalent of the dinosaurs would change how they settled Avalon considerably.
He realized there was a lot they did not know about their planet. To survive, they would need to learn considerably more about their new home and maintain very strict security.
He also decided that to live on this world, they would need the help of the people who have lived here for generations. The Avalonians.
Chapter Thirteen
When they returned to Shangri-La four days later, they found the site demolished. The canopy was in shreds, and the habitat cubes damaged beyond repair. The single standing habitat that had saved their lives was now scattered and in ruins. Large reptilian footprints were everywhere, and it appeared the beasts destroyed the camp with great rage. This location was no place to create a home and certainly no place to bury Rudy. It made no sense to cling to this spot that was beautiful, but hard to defend. They didn’t bother unpacking and received permission to return to the Excalibur; to reconsider their choice of settlement sites.
After much discussion, it was decided to move the camp. A place was selected closer to the mountain, with their backs protected by stone cliffs and rough terrain. The natives were about a mile away, close enough to establish a relationship, but far enough to keep the two settlements separated. The winding river was nearby for water, with a broad patch of open ground leading up to the camp.
This time, they went in force. Three shuttles were loaded with personnel and equipment and sent down to begin again at the new location. Their first priority would be to construct a ten-foot sonic fence surrounding the construction site. They could enlarge it later as they became more established. The following day, the contact specialists would seek to arrange a meeting with the natives.
Additional security was recruited, and Al now had ten security officers under his command. He left four men on the ship and came down to the planet with six. Robot Nine was fitted with a laser and assigned to Al’s department full time. He thought it was strange that the robot that had initially tried to kill him was now going to have his back.
The two watchers they used for early warning; stationed a quarter mile outside the fence perimeter; always circling above at one-hundred feet. The surveillance drones had given his security officers enough warning to save lives, and he came to believe in them.
As soon as the fence was operational, the funeral was held for Rudy. It was not Shangri-La, but at least, he would be close to his friends. They buried him under a tall tree overlooking the water, in the shadow of the magnificent mountain. Everyone agreed it was a beautiful spot.
His headstone read simply, Rudy Labronski - To save some, he sacrificed all.
The settlement was going to be permanent, and would remain occupied at all times. The colonists held a contest to get a name for the new site, and after going through the hundreds of entries, the winning name picked by the senior officers turned out to be—The Village of Camelot.
****
It was the two contact specialists, two armed security officers, Robot Nine, and Al that went to meet the natives. With four security officers stationed on the ship, that left four to guard the camp. Al thought that with the fence, and the aid of the watchers, the colony would be safe enough. They kept the party small so as not to frighten the Avalonians and they carried with them: blankets, cooking pans, canteens, and chocolate, all of which they divided among the travelers to carry.
The party had their breakfast and left a half-hour after dawn. They believed the creatures that attacked them did most of their hunting at night so it should be safe to make the trek to the caves, have their meeting, and get back before dark. They did not take a shuttle, thinking it would scare the primitives into believing they were descending from wherever it is gods hang out. They wanted friends, not worshipers.
Robot Nine was in the lead, with Al directly behind, followed by the specialists and then his men. The two contact specialists, Cindy and Rahul talked non-stop as they followed behind Al. They were heading towards the fulfillment of a lifetime ambition, and all they could do was argue. Cindy wanted a more structured approach while Rahul wanted the conversation to lead their discussion.
“We have to hear them out and give them a chance to take the lead. The more they talk to us, the more we learn from them,” Rahul repeated for the third time.
“We should be asking the questions, letting them know what we need answers to,” Cindy shot back. She was very set in her thinking and determined to be heard.
“How are they going to know what our questions are?” Rahul asked her.
This argument went back and forth for a very long hour until Al finally turned to them and said, “Listen up you two, we are walking through unexplored territory, with unknown dangers, and creatures that are drawn to noise. I believe when we get there, your training and education will take over, and you will do just fine. Until then, let’s concentrate on our surroundings and leave the disagreements until later.”
Half an hour later, Robot Nine warned, “Movement up ahead.”
Al saw it too, behind the occasional tree on each side; shadows moved, never quite visible in the light. Little flashes of something almost seen.
Cindy noticed Al looking around and asked, “You see something, Mister
Clark?”
“We are being watched…and followed,” Al said in a subdued voice.
A short time later Cindy asked her colleague, Rahul, “Do you see anything?”
“All I see are trees and a lot of grass.”
The robot stopped for a second, turned to Al and quietly stated, “They are staying well back sir, and appear to be just observing. It is possibly the indigenous humanoids. We are only a half-mile from their caves. Should we continue?”
One of his men from the back of the procession spoke up, “Do you two see something?”
“We think the natives are here, and keeping an eye on us,” Al replied.
“So they know we’re coming?”
Al said, “If that is true, it’s a good thing. We won’t be surprising them. Is that correct Cindy?
Cindy agreed, “It is better not to show up out of nowhere.”
Al wanted to keep moving; they only had so much time before they needed to head back to camp. “We are almost there everybody, so keep your eyes open. Let’s move on.”
They did not surprise the natives. A welcoming party was waiting below the caves, dressed in their finest furs and embellishments. A dozen members of the tribe were lined up on their knees with their foreheads touching the ground; waiting for their gods to arrive. The two natives Al and Liz had met before were there kneeling with the others.
Al looked sideways at the specialists and Rahul took the lead. He walked across the line smiling and gesturing for them to stand. The natives hesitantly stood but kept their eyes on the ground. Rahul was in front of the center individual, who appeared to be the eldest and the best dressed, and presented him with a bar of chocolate. The Elder accepted the gift with a smile and motioned for one of the youngest of his group to present their tribute.
The gift handed to Rahul was the most unique necklace Al had ever seen. Woven from a fine woven colored hair, it was a thin sixteen-inch-long multicolored chain of crafted beauty. The presenter had removed it from around his neck and handed it to Rahul, who ceremoniously placed it around his neck. “I call dibs on the necklace,” he announced.
“You can’t do that,” Cindy protested.
“Okay you two,” said Al.
When Rahul presented each of the welcoming parties with a bar of chocolate, they appeared to have found heaven, until it occurred to some of them that they had only one gift, and received twelve. Al could see their thoughts become conflicted; most likely wondering if the one necklace was enough tribute to the gods.
After a short while, they were invited up to the caves. A large room waited for them, with two dozen spectat
ors standing respectfully to the side. Soft pillows fashioned of hide lay on flat rocks for seats, with an abundance of food on a large wooden table set before the visitors. The natives loosened up in time, and they talked as best they could. The food was exotic and delicious enough to help put both groups at ease. The specialists did most of the talking since they were the experts.
There were universal gestures such as a nod meaning yes and a head shake meaning no but the bulk of communication was through facial expressions, pointing at various things, and drawing on the dirt floor.
The colonists learned a lot about Avalon and its inhabitants that day. The winters in the mountains were cold, and the natives loved the blankets given to them by their guests. With amazement, they accepted the aluminum alloy cooking pots, and it became apparent the entire tribe would treasure the hard, shiny, cookery. The canteens, with their magical screw-top-caps, and insulated coatings, they decided, would make carrying and storing water considerably easier.
In time, the discussion turned to dangerous animals. There were many types of predators on Avalon, but the worst were the Riktors. The native’s name for the creatures that had killed Rudy and almost always hunted in pairs. The two rampaging monsters killed by the settlers were part of a territorial group of ten or so, which terrorized and ate every native out after dark. The caves they were so proud of acted as their refuge, and provided shelter from the predators of Avalon for generations.
The natives were family oriented, intelligent, friendly, and loved to laugh. It took some explaining, but eventually, arrangements were made for one of the natives to visit the colonists at their camp; to learn about them, and to learn the human language. The language was going to be the big stumbling block to their relationship and the specialists deemed that teaching the natives English was priority one. In two days’ time, one lucky Avalonian would be living with the Gods.
The natives escorted the colonists halfway to the settlement, and then rushed back to beat the coming darkness. The greeting party also hurried.
AL CLARK (A Sci-Fi Adventure)(Book One) Page 9
