“Look!” Elaine cried as a yellow creature that resembled a tiger streaked into the dead-end valley and took aim at an outlying member of the herd. A member with white streaks in its brown fur.
The speedy four-legged predator had long white canine teeth and resembled the saber-toothed tiger of Earth’s ancient past. Before it could reach its elderly oxen target, the herd moved.
“Stampede!” Nikola called from behind Jack.
The thirty or so Alien oxen rushed forward as a group, heads low, horns pointed toward the tiger. They came in a crescent that moved to surround the Alien predator.
Contact came when the tiger slid to a stop, reared up, looked around wildly, then turned to run away.
Four Alien oxen butted its rear-end with their blocky heads. The tiger squalled like a screeching owl, kicking back with clawed pawfeet.
Seconds later the tiger was surrounded and being trampled by the black hooves of the Alien oxen. Red blood and yellow fur fragments flew through the air before the herd blocked all view of the Alien tiger’s body.
“Mobbing,” said Denise firmly.
“What?” Jack said, unable to pull his eyes away from what had been an intentional trap for a predator who resembled Earth’s deadly carnivore cats.
“It’s defensive behavior seen in birds, primates, antelopes and other prey animals,” she said, her tone solemn. “When prey animals are slower than hunting predators like lions, tigers and leopards, they cluster together in a herd. That way they have more lookouts to spot predators sneaking up on them. And some prey have learned to flock together to defend the group, as when starlings make a group attack to harass a hawk. Though my ethology studies have not documented intentional killing of the predator. Like here. Also, these people have two sizes, one a third smaller. That may indicate sexual dimorphism.”
Maureen gestured forward. “It was all being recorded. By that solo oxen guy up on the ridgeline. He held some kind of globular vidcam in his mouth, with finger-like tongue segments.”
“Denise, check the other strong AV channels,” Jack said. “See if these oxen people appear in them. And whether they use tools in those broadcasts.”
“Working on it,” she said, tapping hurriedly on her Comlink panel. “Here goes. Two more channels joining this image up front.”
One new split-screen showed lines of oxen Aliens striding up a rampway to enter a blockhouse building that was capped by a clear, see-through dome. The building was one of scores that made up a city traversed by black-topped roadways. The other new split-screen shocked him. It showed a dozen Aliens gathered indoors, inside a large room filled with tanks. Two of them stood looking down at a tank. Inside the tank were small, squirrel-like creatures that frantically ran from side to side of the tank. Both oxen lowered their muzzles into the tank, used their purple finger-tongue to grab a brown-furred rodent, pulled it into their mouth and began crunching. Other oxen Aliens elsewhere in the room were doing the same. Both sizes of oxen were present in the room and all of them had yellow horns.
“Damn!” said Max. “They may look like herbivores but they sure eat meat.”
“They are not vegetarians,” called Aashman from the top of the front screen.
“Disgusting,” called Blodwen.
“Weird,” said Archibald.
“Very normal,” said Denise.
Jack blinked, feeling amazed by the images of apparent herbivores doing Tech stuff, going to jobs and eating dinner in an Alien version of a restaurant. “Denise, explain. Please.”
“I’m putting up another split-screen. It’s going out to the fleet folks just like these images.” She paused. “While these Alien oxen have the bodies of herbivores, they are clearly the dominant species on planet two. That manipulator tongue works like a human hand. And while they love munching on grass, as we see now in the first valley image, they are no strangers to eating meat protein. Which some Earth herbivores do. Have done.”
Jack shook his head. “Which are they? Carnivores masquerading as herbivores? Herbivores acting like carnivores? Or omnivores eating anything they can catch or gather?”
Denise laughed. “Captain Jack, you do like your nice, narrow categories. Well, these are Alien lifeforms with their own evolutionary history. While they are clearly carbon-based life that breathes oxy-nitro air, relies on oxidation of food for body energy, and have developed social behaviors that allow them to drive off or kill the predators who likely preyed on them early in their evolution, these oxen people run this planet. And fly spaceships.”
“But I thought herbivores did not eat meat,” Jack said.
Denise did not laugh this time. “On Earth, most herbivores eat mainly grasses, shrubs and anything plant-like. But eco-biologists on Earth have documented cases of white-tail deer eating nesting song birds. Vidcams placed over songbird nests showed deer coming up, bending down and eating nestlings right out of the nest.” She pointed forward. “See my new image? It shows deer doing just that. And it’s not just deer being opportunistic. Several farmers in India reported cases of cows eating baby chickens. Ecologists in Scotland documented red-tailed deer eating seabird chicks. They also recorded sheep doing the same. Goats, cows and sheep have been recorded eating baby barn kittens. And elk are regular eaters of bird eggs.”
Maureen chuckled. “I’m older than any of you. I recall watching The Simpsons cartoon series on my vidimager during a boring meeting on Ceres. One of them said ‘If a cow ever got the chance, he’d eat you and everyone you cared about’.”
Jack shook his head. Keeping his eyes glued to the three AV images of the trapping aftermath, the city scene and the indoor restaurant, he spoke. “Okay. So some herbivores eat meat whenever they can get it. But what the hell is that yellow-white mass atop the skulls of the oxen in all three image groups? Can’t be a disease or a skin boil if every oxen carries it.”
“You got me,” Denise said. “While these Aliens resemble the musk oxen of Earth, that does not mean they are the same skittish, sometimes aggressive, highly defensive animals we know from Earth ecology studies. They are Alien folks who evolved on a world with lots of grass, water somewhere and predators who could not out-compete these people.”
Jack looked up at the man with experience in deception. “Admiral Hideyoshi, what are your thoughts about these people? Clearly they can be violent toward local predators. But they seem to be herbivores. Maybe they are even competitive in something. Do we approach and make contact?”
The man reached up and smoothed back his thinning black hair. Ignoring the approach of a red-dressed crewwoman, he nodded slowly. “We make contact. Humans behave weirdly to each other. As for food choices, some humans prefer to eat live critters. Like grasshoppers. This oxen culture is similar to what we humans and other Aliens share in the Tech realm and in life. Other parts of their life are a mystery. You solve a mystery by investigating it. Carefully.”
Jack agreed wholeheartedly. While they had not seen any AV imagery of violent conflict between groups of oxen, there were plenty of AV channels Denise had not yet sampled. “Agreed. Fleet captains and admiral, let us blip jump into this system. Elaine, plot us a NavTrack vector that will put us near the airless moon of planet two. The neutrino source on the moon says there is some kind of base there. Plus two fusion ships are orbiting between the moon and the planet.”
“Plotting,” she said. “Transit time will be five hours.”
He looked back to his ComChief. “Denise, does Anonymous have enough visuals with words to translate the language being spoken on those AVs? All I heard were grunts, hoots, yelps and humming.”
She smiled, her jade green eyes bright with eagerness. “The SETI program is working now. We will be able to do basic talking in their language once we arrive.”
“Good. And please review as many of the 137 recorded AV broadcasts as you can for signs of violence.” Jack looked beyond their redhead to Max. His gruff, honest buddy gave him a patient look. “Drive Engineer, activate our grav-pull in unison
with the fleet.”
“Starting things up.” Reaching out a large fist, Max touched the grav-pull pedestal that stood behind him and Denise. He tapped its motion-activated surface three times. “Power going to the grav-pull. Moving!”
Jack looked back to the front screen. Which now went hazy, then jagged as the gravitational lensing generated by the gravity pull drive bent space around the Uhuru and pulled it south on a straight-line vector toward planet two and its moon.
A mystery they had found. A mystery they must solve before leaving Gliese 832. So be it.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The fleet emerged from grav-pull a hundred thousand kilometers out from the cratered white moon that orbited planet two. A world named Comfort by its people who called themselves the BooMak, according to Denise’s SETI translation of the recorded AV broadcasts. The front screen filled with an enlarged image of Comfort that Nikola’s refractor scope pulled into its CCD circuits. While overhung with white clouds and the funnels of cyclones over its three oceans, the world reminded Jack of the African savannah he’d seen in the Open Library vidrecords he’d studied before taking the Tech job on Charon. It was a world covered in grasslands, spotted with forests, lakes and rivers, and marked by mighty mountain chains on the two primary continents. There were a few large islands similar to Australia and Madagascar. But the two giant continents ran from the northern temperate zone south across the equator to the southern temperate zone. One continent resembled Africa without the Sahara desert, while the other resembled the Eurasian continent laid on its side. No wonder herbivore Aliens had flourished on this world!
“We’re being lidar ranged!” called Elaine, her hands moving quickly over her NavTrack and Sensor panels. “From the two ships and from the moon. The moon lidar source is located on its equator in the bottom of a large impact crater. The lidar in each case seems to be a synthetic array heterodyne emitter.”
No surprise there. The sudden appearance of 23 spaceships of non-BooMak design within hailing distance of their home planet was certain to wake up anyone. And it was a fair bet that the BooMak had sensors capable of locking onto moving neutrino sources. Like the fleet ships. And lidar gave a more detailed image than simple radar.
“Admiral Hideyoshi, please bring the Bismarck alongside the Uhuru. Gareth, please put the Dragon along our other side.” Jack scanned Elaine’s sensor data that were overlaid atop the moon-Comfort image. “You two are the ones with Higgs Disruptors. Which we will use if fired upon by any source. The rest of the fleet, go to a Pinwheel Plasma Torch formation with your drive exhausts pointing outward.”
“Moving to flank you,” Hideyoshi said as he gestured to the heavy cruiser’s pilot.
“Coming alongside,” Gareth said sharply.
Maureen stood up from her seat. “I’m heading back to the Battle Module. Just in case.”
Jack nodded at her. “Denise, broadcast this message from me out on their primary AV channels.” He unsnapped his seat restraints, stood up, put his thumbs in the belt that hugged his waist, and faced the motion-eye.
“Greetings to the ships of the BooMak people of the world Comfort,” he said. “My name is Jack Munroe. My title is fleet captain. My job is that of herd leader. I belong to a bipedal species who live around the distant star Sol, some sixteen light years away from your home star.” He paused, thinking through his options. “We call ourselves humans. Like you BooMak we have spouses and children. We live in homes similar to your buildings. And while we dominate all life on the planet of our birth, we accept that we live within an eco-system of many lifeforms. Just as you BooMak are now discovering that you live in a universe with other space-traveling lifeforms.” Jack gestured to his rear. “Behind me is my mate Nikola, who is an astronomer. Other humans that you see in this image belong to my herd of family, friends and allies. Like you, we work together to make possible our travel across the dark spaces between the stars.” He paused. “As you can see by your sensors and satellites, we humans arrived here in twenty-three spaceships. We came with so many ships because there are apex predators out in the Great Dark, people who would conquer your star system and make a meal of your people. We stopped that from happening to our home system of Sol. We traveled here to warn you of this danger. But if you tell us to leave your star system, we will leave, never to return. Please respond.” He gestured to Denise to cut off his image.
“Jack,” called Elaine. “There are two space stations in orbit above Comfort. One in polar orbit and the other in equatorial orbit. Both orbiting ships are now moving toward us on fusion pulse.”
He saw that in the Sensor overlay. The moon base, which a side image showed to be a silvery blockhouse that was rectangular in shape, had a landing field next to it. There were two small ships parked beside the blockhouse. No activity showed near the base. And there was no sign of a laser defense mount. He turned, sat back in his seat, pulled his Tech panel over and tapped on the Tactical Display. His defensive options were limited. He chose the one that could be recalled.
“Fleet, I’ve launched two thermonuke torps toward the oncoming ships. The torps will stop at 10,000 klicks out from us.” He tapped again on the Tech panel. “I’ve set them to explode upon detection of laser, antimatter or particle beam fire from either ship. Otherwise they will stay quiet but obvious due to their infrared emissions.”
The holo of Maureen that hovered to the right side of his seat showed her nodding. “Good! The EMP from two thermonukes will blind them, fry some of their Tech and disrupt any incoming laser or particle beam strikes.”
Jack knew that. He just hoped he would not have to use the torps. Their fleet ships had just four torps per ship, plus a stockpile of ten more on the Bismarck. He preferred to keep his thermonukes ready for fighting in ‘subject people’ systems and against Hunters of the Great Dark.
“Incoming AV signal!” yelled Denise. “Going up front,” she said in a somewhat calmer voice.
The true-light image of the planet-moon combo and the Sensor overlay moved to one side of the front screen. Filling half the screen was a new image.
A BooMak oxen of the larger size stood facing him from within a large room. Six other BooMak of mixed sizes were scattered about a room that looked like a Command Bridge, given its roomy size. Each oxen was resting atop a padded bench. Thick gray straps passed over the rear haunches and front shoulders of each oxen, linking them to the metal floor. That told him the BooMak did not have artificial gravity and, like humans before the arrival of carnivore predators from the stars, had to secure themselves against thrust displacement. The central BooMak, his shaggy brown fur flaring out in the microgee of the Alien ship, fixed two yellow eyes on him. The red pupils shrank as it reacted to the bright yellow light of Jack’s cabin. It opened its long-jawed mouth.
“Greetings to Herd Leader Jack Munroe, of the biped species Human,” it said in a rolling rumble that was instantly translated to Belter English. “Your appearance answers a long-held debate among our people. Whether our two species were the only intelligent life in the universe.” Its shoulders bunched up as thick muscles moved under the dense fur. “Clearly we are not. While we found small lifeforms on the moon of the inner world Heatload, it had no awareness of itself. You and your ship herd are now here. And others you call Hunters live among other stars. What is your intent toward our herd?”
Jack felt a chill run up his neck. The tone of the BooMak’s words was measured. But the look in the yellow eyes was that of a herd leader about to trample down an enemy. “Peaceful! We will leave your grazing range if you wish. We are not like the yellow predator that we saw attack a herd of your people in one of your broadcasts.” He paused, saw the shoulder tensing ease a bit, and licked dry lips. “Do you have a name? We humans prefer to show respect to another person by use of their personal name and title.”
The five-finger purple tongue flicked out of the BooMak’s large mouth, touched a Tech pedestal just below its chin, then withdrew. The speaker blinked, dark brown eyelids
closing quickly over eyes with human-like irises, then clearing. “My title is Herd Master. Our two names are Thoughtful and Progenitor. You may call me as you wish.”
This was clearly a male bull aiming to protect his herd, his family and his ship mates. Who might or might not belong to his biological family. “Herd Master, you are strong. We humans respect strength. But what do you mean by saying you have two names? Are they the names of your mother and father linked together?”
The Herd Master looked over his left shoulder to a smaller oxen who was working a touch pedestal with tongue fingers. “Researcher, what kind of people are these Humans?”
The smaller female oxen, whose yellow horns were shorter than those of Herd Master, looked toward Jack. The yellow-white fleshy mass atop her skull moved slightly, as if it were jelly-like. “Herd Master, they resemble the wild ones on the island of Metropia. Those forebears of ours were only one species with two sexes. Like most animals and many smaller lifeforms on Comfort. You should explain us.”
Freedom Vs. Aliens (Aliens Series Book 3) Page 16
