The Inosculation Syndrome

by D. B. Reynolds-Moreton

  The light level had dropped perceptibly, and Kal reasoned that the safest place to spend the night, if indeed there was a night, would be on top of the copper stained rocks which he had discovered when he first arrived.

  He thought that he would feel a lot more secure in the comparative safe haven of the rocks, when he tested his fruits. Kal was aware that his collection may well contain some powerful drug-like qualities, and decided to make sure he did not go wandering off in a dazed state, to match the fate of the caterpillar like creature.

  To this end, he undid the belt from around his waist, and jamming the buckle in between two rocks, he tied the other end around one ankle. At least, he could not wander too far.

  The first item to be tested was the bright red berry. Kal sniffed it, and found there was no odour that he could detect, and he had to admit, it did look inviting. Breaking the skin with a finger nail, he immediately wished he hadn’t.

  The smell that assailed his nostrils was the most revolting stench he had ever experienced. His stomach tied itself in knots and he tried to be sick, but this was rather difficult as he hadn’t eaten for so long, but it hurt just the same.

  Exit one sample, as far as he could throw it. It took some minutes for Kal to get back to normal, and he was a little reluctant to try any of the other produce he had gathered.

  He knew it was no use putting the moment off, as he must find something to eat because the emergency rations would only last a day or so. Mentally gritting his teeth, Kal broke off one of the brown finger like things from the little bunch he had collected.

  That smelt all right, but try as he might he could not break through the tough skin. Perhaps a tooth on the jaw saw would do the trick. It did, after a while. At last he managed to prise off the outer coating of the ‘finger’, to reveal a solid grey coloured compound inside.

  Using a ‘tooth blade’, he was able to scrape a little of the compound off, and pressed it to his lower lip. He noticed a warm, not unpleasant, musky smell, and dreaded to think what it might taste like.

  The lip did not swell after a few minutes, so he placed a few flakes of the ‘nut’ under his tongue, and waited for the reaction.

  As nothing had happened for a full ten minutes, Kal put a little more of the compound into his mouth, and chewed it.

  He was quite surprised to find it very much like a perfumed nut, both in flavour and texture, although a little tough.

  Feeling a little more sure of himself, he swallowed the sample, and sat back to see if it would affect him.

  Kal sat there some time, mulling over the events of the day, and he nearly drifted into sleep. So far the Finger Nut had caused him no harm, and as he was feeling hungry, he thought it was time to really put it to the test and try a mouthful. He tried biting the nut, but it was too hard, and he did not want to risk breaking any teeth.

  Back to the scraper, and soon a small pile of flakes were ready to be eaten. The nut flakes were a little dry, and he wished he had brought a few lengths of the bamboo back with him to quench his thirst. All in all, the finger nut provided a satisfying meal, and probably contained a quantity of protein.

  He toyed with the idea of trying the bright yellow pear thing, and as there was nothing else to do, he broke the skin open to reveal a pale cream coloured flesh, with darker streaks of deep yellow within.

  Taking a sniff, he found it had a fruity smell, but to which fruit family it belonged, he was not sure. Again, taking a small sample on his finger, he applied it to his lip.

  At first there was just a mild tingling sensation, with a warm glow behind it, and then his eyes went out of focus and he was floating about in the air, waving his arms and legs, and feeling very happy indeed.

  He drifted around like this for quite a while, smiling at the beautiful plants, and waving at the many creatures of the forest as they went by.

  Some smiled back and even waved, and he felt at one with the planet and its strange inhabitants, who were after all, really no stranger than him.

  When he awoke, it was quite dark. His arms and legs ached from being twisted into unnatural positions, his head felt full of barbed wire, and he had fouled himself into the bargain.

  Slowly, Kal regained some semblance of normality, and was very glad he had had the foresight to anchor his leg to the rocks; otherwise he would probably have wound up being a meal for something.

  Kal spent the rest of the night drifting in and out of fitful bouts of sleep and their accompanying nightmares, and lying on the hard rocks, cursing his misfortune.

  Dawn broke after about three weeks, or so it seemed. He had to admit that the rising of the sun was a beautiful sight, not just because he was glad to see it, but for the wonderful colours in the sky.

  After getting some life back into his cramped legs by jumping, or rather stumbling, from rock to rock, Kal warily made his way over to the bamboo clump, and cut several young shoots. He found that if he made the cut near ground level, the end of the pole was plugged with a pithy substance, and the fluid did not run out.

  He was now equipped with a water supply of sorts. After a quick wash of himself, and his lower tunic, which dried out quite quickly in the sun, he felt a lot better. A couple of finger nuts made him a satisfying meal washed down with bamboo water, and he was ready for the day.

  No way was he going anywhere near the sandy beach and the sea, so inland seemed the only other possible alternative, unless he just stayed put.

  Armed with the dead bamboo pole which he had sharpened to a point with the jaw-saw at a solid joint near one end, and a bundle of ‘water sticks’ tied up with his belt, he set off along the edge of the forest.

  Every now and then, he came across a bamboo clump dotted about among the other tree-like growths, so water shouldn’t be a problem just so long as the bamboo kept cropping up.

  There were many other strange plants for him to inspect as he went along his way, some bearing fruits and others with what he took to be flowers adorning their branches.

  Suddenly he came upon what could be mistaken for a track, leading into the thicker part of the forest. It was well defined and about ten metres wide, the ground cover being the ubiquitous gross, and nothing else.

  On each side of the track the forest grew in profusion, but only to a clear cut edge where the gross took over.

  That seemed even stranger than some of the plants he had found. One possible explanation could be that there was solid rock beneath the track, and the bigger plants could not grow on it, or perhaps there was a fault in the ground structure, and a chemical was leaching upwards, and only the gross could tolerate it.

  He had no way of finding out for sure, so it was only of academic interest, but intriguing just the same.

  It was now decision time, to follow the sparse forest along the shore line, or to go up the track with dense forest either side, and nowhere to run if the need arose. Kal had his sharpened pole and a good pair of legs, so he settled for the track, it might lead to something of interest, and he could always return if it fizzled out.

  He had gone but a few hundred metres when he came across a little clump of white balls about the size of his fist, in a tight little group at the forest edge.

  He gave one a poke with his pole, and it rolled away quite freely with no sign of roots beneath it, leaving a bare patch on the ground where it had been.

  Within a few moments, the gross had curled over to cover the empty patch, as though nothing had been there before.

  ‘That must mean these things come up very quickly, possibly over night’, he concluded, and somehow it rang a bell in his memory.

  Not wishing to go too near the forest edge, he rolled the ball towards him with the pole, and picked it up.

  It was soft but firm, with no smell that he could detect. A possible food source? maybe, so he cut it in half to reveal a soft but solid centre, and again, no smell. Kal jammed a whole one into his bundle of water sticks for future investigation, and proceeded on his way.

  He had ha
d very few thoughts of the Star Search, or her crew, who would still be in deep sleep for months yet, or for that matter even of his own home world.

  He put it down to being so preoccupied with his own survival here, but that did not really satisfy a nagging feeling of selfishness on his part. Somehow he was becoming part of this strange world, and he didn’t seem to mind, and that worried him a little.

  Up the track, some distance away, he suddenly noticed a four legged animal of about his size, eating the white balls as if they were just about to be taken off the menu for ever.

  It had a beak-like mouth piece on a large head which in turn was attached to a rather small body, and so the whole thing looked somewhat out of proportion.

  It mopped the balls up one after the other at great speed, and looking around for more, it spotted him. It froze, and then with mouth open, it advanced slowly towards him making a loud hissing sound.

  Kal stood his ground, heart racing. This was going to be the first conflict between native and interloper, and would decide the odds of Kal’s survival for the future.

  They were only about three metres apart, when Big Head thought better of it, and just stood its ground, hissing as loudly as it could. Kal, sensing the slight back off, let out as ferocious a yell as he could muster, and the creature went silent, backing up a pace or two.

  Having gained the advantage, Kal moved forward with his pole and jabbed ‘Big Head’ in the beak with it. It was enough, the little legs couldn’t move fast enough to carry the creature to the forest edge, where it turned around and began hissing again.

  Unfortunately for ‘Big Head’, it had not chosen a very good place to stand and bay its defiance, for just behind it stood what Kal later christened the ‘Whip Tree’.

  This particular nasty offering had a trunk as thick as two men side by side, and was covered with an olive green cotton wool looking substance. Several tendrils, as thick as an arm, swept up from the base of the trunk vertically for about three metres, and had hooked themselves onto the lower branches with the aid of a claw like protuberance.

  Kal let out a yell and ran forward waving his pole. Big Head’ took one step backwards, and one of the tendrils swept down, the claw embedding itself deeply into the creature.

  The squeal of terror was soon muffled as it was drawn up against the trunk of the whip tree, and the cotton wool covering opened to accept it.

  Within seconds the woolly covering had completely hidden its captive, and the tendril swung up to hook itself back onto one of the lower branches.

  Kal felt saddened at Big Head’s demise, for the poor creature was only defending itself and its territory from something it had never seen before, and he admired its bravery for doing that, as he had very nearly turned tail and run himself.

  In the days of the Star Search, and considering the number of planets they had explored for minerals, there had been very little life in what Kal would call an advanced form.

  There had been the odd few exceptions, and they had come across some humanoid type people, but they had only been of a primitive kind. None the less, they hadn’t encroached on the humanoid’s territory, and only mined when they didn’t disturb the normal course of nature too much.

  This planet seemed to be fairly well advanced in some ways, although the vegetation was a little odd, and he thought some of the creatures were going to be unlike anything he had ever seen before.

  Kal moved over to the middle of the track, choosing the widest part he could see, giving the ground a good poke to release anything hiding there, and then sat down to rest.

  Everything was still around him, an almost eerie silence pervaded the track way.

  In the distance something snapped a twig, or whatever passed for a twig on this world, and there was a general soft scuffling sound in several directions for a few seconds, and then all was quiet again.

  Taking a closer look at the gross, he was surprised to find it quite tough; a fair amount of effort was needed to pull a small piece up from its roots.

  It had no smell that he could discern and felt more like a synthetic rubber compound than an organic plant. Taking a chance he knew he shouldn’t, he bit a tiny piece, but there was no flavour to it at all. It did look a bit like the grass he was used to, perhaps crossed with a strain of moss.

  Something moved to his right, he didn’t see it directly, just a slight flash of light caught in his peripheral vision. Kal looked in the direction of the movement, but could see nothing in motion. And then there it was again, just a tiny sparkle of light falling to the ground.

  Intending to ignore it until something more positive happened, another tiny flash occurred, and curiosity got the better of him, and he heaved himself to his feet.

  First he took a good look in the direction of the light flashes, but all there was to see were the plants at the edge of the track, and they were motionless. And then he spotted it.

  One of the bushes had at the end of its stumpy branches, a fine hair like growth, and it was from one of these that a small drop of liquid fell to the ground beneath.

  Where the drops had fallen, the gross had turned a darker colour, and was much thicker, and probably tastier to eat, although that shouldn’t take much doing, he thought with a silent chuckle.

  Perhaps if he sat over on the other side and waited long enough, something might come along to eat it. But then that something might also like meat as well, and he wasn’t going to chance that.

  Bearing in mind what had happened to Big Head, he thought it best to give the plant life a wide berth until he had worked out which was safe, and which wasn’t, and that in itself could be quite a dangerous occupation here. If nothing else, it would keep him on his toes for a while.

  Kal thought he could survive here. He had found a source of water, and no doubt there would be other water bearing plants, or even an open pool or stream, and if he was lucky the water wouldn’t be contaminated or poisonous.

  His diet was a bit limited at the moment, and that too could be improved, but he would have to be very careful. He didn’t think loneliness would affect him for a while, as there was so much to learn if he was to stay in one piece, but it would catch up with him one day, he felt sure.

  He had food and water, next he would need shelter of some kind as it was going to rain sometime, and he didn’t like the idea of getting wet when he didn’t need to.

  But the main thing was to find a place to sleep, where he couldn’t be got at by anything that was hungry enough to want to turn him into a meal.

  He would have felt a lot happier if he had brought a weapon with him, but you don’t usually carry guns when servicing equipment, he thought wryly. A pointed stake was all very well for small creatures, but as yet he didn’t know the extent to which the native creatures could grow.

  If only the shuttle had survived, and not been consumed by whatever it was that lay beneath the sands of the landing beach. It would at least have been a home to go to for a safe rest and sleep.

  He considered himself very fortunate to have escaped the dreaded sands in one piece, bearing in mind the speed with which the craft had disappeared from view.

  The track continued in a straight line into the distance for as far as Kal could see, but up ahead, he could just discern a large rock formation on his left, towering above the surrounding greenery.

  As this made a change from the jungle of bushes and trees around him, he hurried forward to investigate. The formation was a lot larger than he had first thought, and went back into the forest for some considerable distance.

  There were no plants or other growing things on the rocks, and the gross went right up to where the rock surface protruded from the ground.

  At first sight, it looked as if the ground had been weathered away from around the rock formation, so exposing it to view, but it was quite high, and erosion alone would have taken a long time to have done this.

  Kal, seeing no obvious danger in the rocks, climbed up to obtain a better view of the surrounding
terrain, and was confronted by more of the same forest into the far distance.

  He did not go up to the top, as quite apart from the height, which was deceptive, there were fewer footholds above him.

  While traversing along a ledge, he came to a cave-like opening, and as there was plenty of headroom considered that it might be safe to enter, but very carefully.

  Kal had only gone a few metres into the cave, when he heard the drip of water. The light level was dropping the further in he went, but was just enough to shine on a small pool on the cave floor. First he poked his trusty pole into the water in case it contained something waiting for a meal, and getting no response; he knelt down and dipped his hand into it. It seemed like water, and had no obnoxious smell, so he did the lip test, and tasted it.

  It was good, and as there was no unpleasant metallic after flavour or reaction to his test, he drank his fill.

  ‘That’ll supplement the water tubes’ he thought. ‘They could be kept for a reserve if more caves could be found.’

  Although he was tempted to go further into the cave, the light level was not sufficient to make the investigation a safe proposition, and so he decided to withdraw and perhaps come back one day when he had found a method of generating a light, even if it was only a flaming firebrand.

  This would also make a very good safe haven if he was attacked by something he couldn’t overpower, and had to retreat from. ‘A few well placed rocks around the entrance would make it defendable’ he mused, as he returned to the world of the forest.

  Kal walked on up the track, looking behind him every now and again, just to make sure that nothing caught him unawares from the rear.

  He thought it strange that there were so few legged creatures about as the gross was so evenly cropped, something must have been eating it, and he wondered what.