Noreen told her coldly, “I hereby challenge you, anytime, any weapon of your choosing, at any location you select. It’s your choice or your apology. Pick which comes first.”
Cahill’s “friends” carefully backed away.
Blubbering with fear and having an understandable nasal tone, Cahill squealed, “I’m not armed, d-d-don’t shoot.”
“Wrong.” Noreen corrected her. “You have a pistol right there on your hip. All of you do.” She had noticed that each of the Hub City women packed Krall guns today. Probably a lesson learned from their previous unarmed blunder when out of doors.
“I’m making sure you keep your hands away from your weapon until you’re in a condition to fight me, or to wait for you to apologize.”
Cahill stammered. “I.., I meant no disrespect. I’m s…, sorry.”
“Yes, you did mean it. However, I accept that you truly are a sorry person.” Smoothly holstering her left pistol, Noreen backed carefully away from the downed woman. “The challenge stands,” she told her harshly. “It is suspended until such time as you are prepared and wish to respond. I will not push for satisfaction unless you offend me again, understood?”
Cahill, merely nodded, fumbling for her shirt collar to pat gingerly at the blood, keeping her hands as far from her pistol as practical while sitting on her butt.
Noting that all three of her own companions were now watching her back, Noreen turned around calmly and stepped up into the shuttle.
Dillon and Marlyn followed her in, and Thad stood watching the four women through the edge of the closing hatch until it was sealed.
“Noreen!” exploded Dillon. “I cannot believe you did that to me!”
Defensive and hurt by his reaction, she shouted back at him, “She pushed me too damned far. You actually shot the bully that threatened you, if you recall.” She reminded him of an incident when they were new arrivals on Koban.
“No! I mean you did it and I didn’t even get to see you slug her, damn it. I didn’t even have a premonition.”
There was an incredulous pause, before the four of them exploded in laughter. Noreen laughed until she had tears coursing down her cheeks. This emotional release was one she hadn’t realized she needed. Her ribs were aching when she enveloped Dillon in her arms and kissed him passionately. A “thank you” down payment, rendered for his supporting remark.
Thad chuckled at a thought. “Wow, I almost wish she had remembered she had a gun. That would have removed a huge pain in our asses.”
“Damn it to Hell!” Noreen exclaimed, in an uncharacteristic use of profanity. “I have just made things tougher for Tet. He’s trying to keep us on cordial terms with Hub City, and I just ruined that for him.”
“We never had good relations with Cahill’s clique,” Marlyn reminded her. “We were never going to be friends with them anyway. MacDougal proves there are people here that are capable of a rational conversation, even if they disagree with us.”
“Well, let’s get busy and help MacDougal and others like him. We need to find when, where, and how whatever killed his brother and sister in law got inside. Then find and kill the thing.
****
Mirikami was enjoying a rare relaxing day away from decision-making, drinking Death Lime juice under a shade awning on a hillock, next to a sweet smelling grove of everblue fir trees. Vince and he were simply talking about how beautiful this dangerous world was.
Maggi and Sarah were discussing the imported plants the Krall had brought for the Raspani. They were curious as to the reasons behind the consideration this appeared to imply on behalf of the Krall. They were a race that never showed concern for even other Krall.
Deciding to pull the men’s conversation into something more productive than pure appreciation of nature, Maggi asked Mirikami his thoughts on the two species of plants.
“Sarah informs me there are two vitamins and an enzyme in the green fern plants that is missing from Koban plants, which the Raspani need for vigor and improved health. The Raspani need this to thrive, but it isn’t essential. We both can see the Krall motive for furnishing the plant if they want faster growth and healthy stock. Otherwise we doubt they would have bothered.”
Mirikami agreed. “I’d say Krall efficiency is at work there. More meat for the harvest, with no care for the actual well-being of the Raspani. What have you learned about the plant that’s red colored? Is it from somewhere else on Koban or imported from off world?”
“It shares many matching genetic markers with the green fern, proving they both originated on the same world.” Sarah told him.
Maggi noted, “The red leaves may actually find some use in cooking for us. It’s safe for humans to eat, if you can tolerate the heat. The coloration provides fair warning.”
“Excuse me? Heat?”
Sarah smiled. “Spice, not temperature Commander. It contains a compound very similar to the capsaicinoids in some Earth chili peppers. The Raspani appear to enjoy eating it, but we’ve found nothing present in them that appears unique nutritionally, or lacking on Koban. Therefore, it must be a flavor of their home world. Not a flavor they crave constantly, but they appear to enjoy it in moderation.”
“First of all Sarah, please drop the Commander title, I beg you. I’m simply Tet.”
“Tet, you are nothing simple, but I’ll remember. I’m interested in your thoughts as to why the Krall might have brought the pepper plant here. You must admit, you have had some success in figuring out Krall thinking and motivations.”
“Perhaps I’ve had some luck in doing that Sarah, but I always assume anything the Krall do has some self-serving motivation at its root. The plant can’t just be for giving the Raspani pleasure, or it probably would be something for them that’s equivalent to sugar, or work like an addictive drug does for humans. The Raspani don’t crave the flavor if they eat it in moderation.
“You have to ask yourself, what use did the Krall have for keeping the Raspani alive? The answer is they use them for food. The green plant helps increase the health and quantity of that food. Perhaps the red pepper is for quality?”
“How would the plant help that?” asked Vince. “A cooking spice?”
“The Krall like their meat fresh and raw, or dried as jerky when in the field. I can’t see a Krall carrying spice leaves around and a cook pot, can you?”
“Then how do you think they use the plant?” Sarah wanted to know.
“You’ve heard the phrase ‘you are what you eat’ haven’t you? I suspect they feed it to the Raspani for the flavor it imbues in their flesh.”
Maggi asked Sarah a couple of questions. “You say they don’t eat a lot of this plant. Is the spice extremely concentrated?”
“No. less so than the ground peppers we compared it against.”
Mirikami thought a moment, tapping his lip. “I saw some pens inside the airlock building, apparently for holding the Raspani before slaughter. Are there feeding and water troughs there? A hungry Raspani might eat whatever it’s given, if held long enough. The Krall complained more than once that humans don’t taste good, that we’re too bland. This may be what spices up the flavor for them.”
“I think you could be right,” agreed Vince. “The pens you noticed hold exactly eight Raspani, the Krall’s favorite number. We saw that there were curious bracket mechanisms that could lock on and hold each of the Raspani with the upper torso forced down over the troughs. They could have forced them the spice as long as they wanted. Damn them.”
“That’s our compassionate enemy for you Vince. When we have the improved communications installed, Jake can listen to and observe the Raspani. He might find out how much language they retain. We may discover what they still know.”
****
Noreen took the shuttle up over the Hub City dome in a hover a few thousand feet overhead, to allow Dillon and Thad to open both rear hatches to calibrate their helmet displays, IR sensors, and adjust camera zoom.
Over the suit radio, on a shared frequency wi
th the shuttle, Thad pointed out a recent rutted trail.
“To the north, there’s a double path through the grass and muddy patches. Looks like wheel tracks. Could be from a truck going out and returning. There’s been no rain in the last couple of weeks, since the snow melted, so they could have been made at any time since then. I think we should see if they lead to a gate.”
Noreen followed the tracks at a modest pace, to keep the slipstream low around the raised hatch doors. The tracks wavered around terrain obstacles, such as hills or sporadic growths of trees and bushes, but maintained a northerly path right up to one of the compound’s gates.
Noreen set down well away from the tracks and gate, to avoid disturbing the scene, in case there was useful detailed information up close.
The gate used the airlock principle, with two hinged gates at each end of a thirty-foot corridor extending out into the savanna. The wire tunnel formed of closely strung parallel heavy wires stretched between gray metal frameworks. Those frames were insulated from the ground by a few inches.
The Krall had high voltage applied to the entire metal assembly. The procedure was to disarm the gate assembly by throwing a manual switch that bypassed the current, and open the inner gate. Drive into the protected wire tunnel, close that gate behind you, open the outer gate and drive out. Stop and close the outer gate, reapply the electrical power to the whole assembly via a switch outside, and just drive away.
However, there was nothing that prevented you from leaving both gates open, or to leave the power off.
To prevent plant growth from contacting the electrified gate, there was a wide paved area under everything. Time and winds had placed a layer of dust and blown detritus that accumulated on the paved surface.
Dillon, first to arrive at the gate, could see two sets of truck tracks went through. However, there were also dainty looking small hoof prints leading into the compound, some obliterated by the truck tracks that had returned, passing over the hoof prints and the outgoing set of wheel impressions.
“Thad, whoever went out and back must have left the gate open long enough for these gazelle hoof prints to be put down.”
His fellow hunter was at the closed switch box on the wall, which he opened and glanced at the single small light inside. “The power is on now, so it’s just as Tet supposed. Someone left the gate open for a period of time, letting in the gazelles, and certainly something that must have been stalking them.”
A more experienced tracker, Thad came over closer to the fencing, Noreen and Marlyn were curious but staying well back, their pistols out, looking around nervously.
Thad pointed, “Look at the smeared dried mud on the right side, by the fence, like something slipped and fell into the wire. Is that a print next to it?” He closed his faceplate to access the helmet’s video display, and zoomed in on the dried print he’d noticed in the hardened mud.
Dillon did the same. “Wow. That’s a panther or ripper print, I think.”
With assurance, Thad said, “It’s from a ripper. See those deep indentations in the mud? Two inches in front of each toe. That’s from its extended claws, and they are two inches out from the toes and too deep for a panther, which is smaller. That isn’t as large a print as a full grown male’s, but it could be from a young male, or a female.”
Because they had closed their faceplates, and not switched on their external speakers, the two women hadn’t heard that chilling pronouncement.
As they turned back to the Ladies and opened their faceplates, Marlyn asked, “Aren’t you two Boy Scouts going to pick up a piece of poop to taste, just to tell us female yokels what the gazelle’s had for dinner?”
Noreen snickered, and even Dillon couldn’t suppress a laugh. Thad smiled appreciatively at the joke, but he was busy scanning the area, his hand on his slung rifle. “Let’s get into the shuttle folks, right now. We have a bad kitty somewhere around here.”
That sobered the mood up quickly, and they hustled back inside the shuttle, watching the two hatches close, with weapons at the ready. They had already seen how easily a ripper could handle even armed humans.
Noreen got them airborne and started a search pattern, while Thad radioed Mirikami.
“Tet, you were right. A ripper got in last week when someone drove out and back in a truck, carelessly leaving both gates open at once. A number of gazelles came through, perhaps running from the ripper, because one of them fell and slid on mud into the unpowered fence. The ripper left a print on top of the gazelle’s slip and slide streaks. We’ve started a search for a possible den, but it isn’t going to be active much, with so little game to hunt. Are you safe out there with the Raspani? How sturdy is that enclosure?”
“Thad, the Raspani haven’t been attacked, because Vince and Sarah keep a head count. Let me ask them about the tent material.” They could hear him talking in the background, mouth away from his handset. He was back quickly.
“Vince tested the material and it’s far stronger that our Smart Fabric, and much stiffer on the sides, more so than what you see draped from the poles as a roof. We’ll confirm the top material is just as strong, in case the ripper climbed up to try to enter.”
“Just be careful. The two people it took will only feed it for so just long. Then it will be after the easiest prey again. Will you warn Hub City? I don’t think it should be through the Governor. She won’t want to talk to any of us right now, or ever again possibly. We’ll explain later.
“We met MacDougal just after you left with Vince, and he’s a decent sort and no fan of Cahill’s. He won’t side with us on genetics, but he’s friendly. See if you can reach him. Be delicate in your ripper warning. The two people the ripper killed were family for him. A brother and his wife.”
“So. That explains his contacting me, despite Cahill’s objections. I’ll find him, even if we have to go into the dome looking. Keep me updated on your search.”
“Will do, Tet. Out.”
Noreen, waiting for the call to finish, asked, “What sort of den do rippers use? What am I looking for, Thad?”
“The prides I’ve seen from the air near Prime City gathered in groups on the open plains during breezy or cloudy days or under trees if it’s hot and sunny. I think they used some shallow caves or shady rock ledges farther north. I don’t know what they do at night, besides hunt sometimes. It’s hard to get very knowledgeable of animals we can’t go near.”
“I’m about to pass over a group of low trees and bushes. Do you boys think your IR sensors would pick out a heat source under that?”
“It should, and I guess we need to look at them all. Dillon, you take the right side I’ll cover left. Let’s pop the hatches open. We might be doing this for hours, if not days.”
That proved to be a prediction for boredom, as there were a thousand such places to check, even with the Raspani enclosure cutting down the search area. After several hours, Dillon’s helmet sensors highlighted an icon’s heat signature right out on the open grassland. He quickly switched to normal vision and zoomed in on the spot in tracking mode, to compensate for their movement towards the next grove of trees.
“Gazelles HO!” Reading off of his helmet’s range finder, he added, “Two o’clock, at just over three miles. Seven of the little guys grazing out in the open.”
Thad stepped over to the other hatch for a confirming look. “Hold up, hover where we are, Noreen. Don’t go too close or you’ll spook them into running. I have an idea that might bring the ripper to us rather than our hunting for it over all this territory. We might be able to catch one or more of these gazelles and stake them out near the dome.”
Dillon gave him a look. “How the devil do you propose caching one? All you and I have ever done is shoot them, and that’s hard enough with those bouncing little blue and white balls of muscle, changing directions constantly.”
Thad shrugged. “Perhaps drive them into a bunch of staked out cargo nets with the shuttle. We have one aboard now, and we can get more back at the dome.�
��
“What if these seven scatter instead of running together straight? It isn’t as if we have a big herd to chase, to increase our chances of snaring one.”
“OK, that might not work. Though getting the ripper to come to us is more likely to succeed than what we’ve been doing all morning. We may have already passed it by without knowing it, if it’s under good cover.”
“Gentle Men,” Noreen interrupted their manly hunter speculations. “Look out the hatch, please. They’re running.”
Thad, in his best “I told you so” tone to Noreen said, “I knew if they saw us they’d spook and run.”
“Then explain why they’re running towards us, oh wise and clever hunter.”
****
Merki’s stored mind pictures from female pride mates had grown stronger, as her impending delivery placed them in proper context. The dwindling food value of the two slow one’s, the carcasses now nearly consumed, would not sustain her or help her produce the secretions her cub would need in the weeks to come. She needed the pride to hunt for her, to help her. Too late she realized that her dead mate’s desire to save his own cubs from other males had caused her to endanger them in another way.
In fact, a steadily increasing metabolism was making her hungrier. Her hormone driven body was trying to make her to eat enough in advance to provide the extra energy for the double births, and to be able to stay with her cubs and nurse them through their first weeks of greatest vulnerability. Isolated as she was, her mother and sisters couldn’t help her now.
From the protected den in a modest rock outcrop, she constantly looked out over the lush but empty plains where she had trapped herself. True, she was protected from the non-existent rhinolo herds that might trample her cubs if found. Equally absent were other small predators and scavengers, which might threaten her unprotected cubs when she hunted. However, hunger was now stalking their future, and hers.
Koban: The Mark of Koban Page 20
