by Lori Beery
“I’m sure you will continue to improve,” he told me confidently.
I pulled out the chair to the left of my seat and nearest him as I said, “Please join me.” He dropped wearily into it with a smile.
“Thank you,” he said relieved. “It seems the walk from my lab to here is getting very long.”
“Can I get you anything?” I asked concernedly.
“Drahl would be nice,” he replied. But as I turned to retrieve some for him, he stopped me. “Please, let Lloyd get it. I wish to speak with you.” He fixed his intense blue eyes on me as he spoke.
“You do?” I queried, lifting my eyebrows in surprise. “Please continue,” I said, retaking my seat and focusing my attention on him.
“Derrick said you came to the lab to tell me you were back on duty,” he said. “He, also mentioned you were interested in downloading Teacher lessons that would help you make meaningful observations. Are you still interested?”
“Yes,” I told him without hesitation.
“I have selected two lessons that I think will be the most helpful,” he continued. “Of course, they don’t specify the tree-dwellers. But I think the methodology will pertain very well.”
“When can I come for the downloads?” I asked excitedly.
“After I finish my drahl,” he said as Lloyd set a cup of it before him. He took a sip while Lloyd seated himself in the chair across from me. My dorm mate winked as he sipped from his cup.
“Of course,” I commented, picking up my fork to continue my meal. “I’m not sure when I will be assigned to go on an expedition.”
“If all goes as I hope, the opportunity will arise next week. That is if you are willing?”
“I am,” I replied. “Is your department heading up an expedition to see where the tree-dwellers are going?”
“We are,” he confirmed as he sipped his drahl. “If nothing else, the excursion will give us an idea of the eagle’s territory.”
“Ah, so my suspicion has been discussed?” I asked, glancing at Lloyd who nodded.
“It has,” confirmed Dr. Locus. “We noted that both you and John Elm logged sighting reports of a large winged shadow.” He paused and drank more of his drahl. “Do you have the midnight shift again tonight?” he inquired.
“I do,” I answered, laying down my fork next to my just-emptied plate.
“Let us go and get those lessons downloaded.” His mug now empty, I noticed. “Then, you can turn in and get some sleep.”
“That sounds like a good plan,” I agreed as I stood up and stacked my tableware. “Thank you for your consideration,” I told Dr. Locus.
“Not at all,” he responded with a smile. He turned and headed toward the corridor leading to his lab and the Teacher.
I went to grab my stack, but Lloyd reached over and took my dishes. When I frowned at him, he lifted his chin toward Dr. Locus, who was walking away. I shrugged and hurried to catch up with him.
At 23:50, I reported to the roof for guard duty. When I retook the northeast corner post, all was still and quiet. The stars shone brightly in the night sky. It seemed nothing moved beyond our mountain.
My thoughts drifted back to my visit with Dr. Locus. We had gone to the alcove that contained the Teacher. Following the doctor’s instructions, I had sat in the comfortable chair that was nearby with the Teacher’s transference hat dangling over my head. The hat was strange because it had all sorts of tubes protruding from various places on its domed surface. Almost half of the tubes were brightly colored. Each tube was attached to the machinery behind the chair through a slender cable.
When the hat was lowered, it didn’t touch my head at all. It simply surrounded the top of my head from my brows to the nape of my neck.
I felt very little. There was a slight tingling sensation behind my eyes that seemed to spread outward and become nothing. Shortly after I felt that tingling for the second time, Dr. Locus removed the hat and told me the downloads were complete. I thanked him and returned to my room to turn in.
Now, up on the roof, I found myself wishing I had brought a pair of binoculars. I felt I should locate any other high places an eagle might choose to nest. Of course, the darkness would make it nearly impossible to identify any likely locations right now. Such activity should take place during daylight hours. Perhaps, I could come back after dawn and have a look.
Presumably, these thoughts were the result of my observation downloads. I shook my head and tried to focus on my guard duty. I struggled to pay attention to every sound and motion going on around me. Truthfully, though, there wasn’t much of either.
I found myself star gazing. I spotted a few more of the constellations I had learned the previous morning. The other groupings were a mystery to me. I tried to assign names to them, but my imagination wasn’t up to the task. Instead, I just looked.
Sometime later a cry, nothing like the scream from last night, drew my attention over the north edge of the roof. I peered over at the starlit cliff directly below me but saw nothing. Then, a violent shake of a tree branch near the base of the cliff, roughly a kilometer north drew my attention. Seconds later, I saw a dark shape land on a ledge protruding from the cliff a meter above the tree level. The dark shape began scrambling up the rock and vanished from my sight into a shadowed cleft.
I waited. The dark shape didn’t reappear. Nor did any other shadowy form land on the rocks. All was still and quiet. I straightened up and stepped back away from the rocky rail frowning at the north.
“Ky?” asked John Elm’s voice over my comm. “Did you see something?”
“Yes, but I don’t exactly know what I saw,” I told him.
“Wait, I’m coming over,” he responded.
I continued to look out over the north rail until I heard John’s boots on the stone behind me. I waited until he stood beside me and then told him what I had seen. He stared at me for a moment.
“Could it have been a tree-dweller?” he asked, breaking the silence.
“It might have been,” I allowed. “Except Dr. Locus and his team have reported that the tree-dwellers have moved beyond an eight-kilometer radius from here. So, they should have cleared the vicinity. That is, unless, this group has decided to leave the tree canopy and take up cave dwelling.”
“It could be possible,” remarked John.
“It could,” I agreed. “Do I have to log a sighting report?” I was hoping he would say no. I didn’t want to be logging sighting reports every time I was up on the roof, especially when the incident didn’t seem to pose any threat.
“Yes, you should,” he informed me. “If nothing else, we should be on the lookout for snakes.”
“Ermm, that’s true,” I conceded. “The snakes do go where the dwellers go.”
“That they do,” he said, patting my shoulder. “After you file the sighting report, you might tell Dr. Locus what you saw too. That way he and his team know we are keeping them in the loop.”
“OK, I’ll file the report,” I agreed with a sigh.
“Good,” he said. “Carry on.” He left me standing at my post looking out over the northern rail.
I had to concede that John had a good point. We had easily observed that the snakes followed the tree-dwellers. The little hominoids seemed to be the snakes’ favorite prey. It was the biggest reason we had not built our settlement in the treetops. And, even knowing that, I had thought there was no threat that the tree-dwellers were becoming cave-dwellers. Ergg! Some guard I am.
My rooftop duty concluded without further incident. I did log a sighting report on the dark shape I had seen. As before, I drew no conclusions other than to suggest we be alert for snakes. I decided I would drop by the lab and speak with Dr. Locus after training later this morning. For now, I would go back to my room and try to get some additional sleep. Perhaps more sleep would help my lack of follow-thru thinking.
I awoke with just enough time to get to training. It was all cardio and agility exercises today. X-tee had devised a very strenuou
s obstacle course that required a lot of running, swinging, and jumping, but I could do it all. I was panting and dripping sweat by the time I finished, though. Happily, so were my teammates.
Following the obstacle course, we had weapons training. Today, we were to defend ourselves using the staff. I had very little expertise with its use. I possessed head knowledge of how to block, attack, and which stances were involved. I had done very little actual practice, however. To make matters worse, my training partner was Marta.
Marta Sequoia was a tall, fit woman with ruddy skin and blue-black hair who could dance circles around me with the staff. She had long arms that extended her reach. She was agile and wickedly fast. Plus, she was quite experienced in this type of sparring. I hoped her ability included pulled hits and touches. Otherwise, I was certain I’d be back in medical with lots of broken bones.
I should not have been so concerned. Marta became quite the teacher. She walked me through the various movements and stances. When I could perform them correctly, she connected the moves into fluid chains or forms.
It took most of the training period for me to become proficient at three of the forms. But in the last few moments of practice, we could slowly go through two of the forms as combatants. The choreographed bout gave me a better understanding of just how deadly the staff could be. Besides being an eye opener, the training was a fun experience. I was happy to finish this class without any bruises. I also had a newfound, deeper respect for Marta, as if that were possible. I already thought of her as my role model.
Chapter 11
My reception at Dr. Locus’ lab this time around was far more pleasant than when I had dropped by to tell the good doctor I was back on duty. An excited and lively discussion was occurring among the team, all without the tension I had observed during my previous visit. When I knocked on the door, everyone turned curious, excited expressions toward me.
“Good morning, all,” I told them with an easy smile. “I have an event to report.”
“Please continue,” replied Dr. Locus, interest dancing in his blue eyes.
I proceeded to tell them about the small humanoid shadow climbing up the rock face during my roof-top duty earlier this morning. They listened with rapt attention. When I finished my report, Derrick raised his hand.
“Yes?” I asked him.
“Did you log a sighting report?” he questioned.
“I did,” I responded. “I wanted folks to be alerted to the possible migration of the snakes to our mountain range.”
“If the tree-dwellers are taking up residence in caves within this range, that is a valid concern,” said Dr. Locus. “We should add that location to our list of places to investigate.”
“I have noted it,” Ross piped up. Dr. Locus gave him a pleased nod before turning back to me.
“Thank you, Ky, for bringing this event to our attention,” he told me. “I will keep you posted concerning our upcoming expedition.”
I smiled and bowed slightly to him. Throwing a wave to them all, I departed the lab and headed for the roof. It was time to look for possible roosting sites for an overly large eagle near our mountain.
When I stepped onto the roof, the late morning sun beat down. It had warmed up considerably. I knew the solar collectors were busy converting the heat and light into usable or storable electricity. Shielding my eyes, I looked around for the watch leader. Before I could scan the entire roof, I heard footsteps approaching my position from behind. I turned to face the oncoming person and saw Captain X-tee making his way up to me.
“What, didn’t you get enough time on the roof earlier this morning?” he demanded in his gruff guard-captain voice.
“Yes, Sir,” I replied in a voice that was more confident than I felt. “I’m here on a scouting mission for Dr. Locus. I’ll make it quick and be out of your way as soon as possible.”
He stared at me with steel in his brown eyes. The hardness drained away as he wiped sweat from his brow. “Care to explain what you mean by ‘scouting mission’?” he asked in a quieter voice.
“I’m here to look for likely nesting sites for an overly large eagle, in case such a beastie exists,” I answered. My voice sounded far less confident by the end of my statement than it had at the beginning. X-tee pinched his nose between his eyes in his tired, frustrated manner and leveled his brown eyes at me.
“What eagle?” he asked in an exasperated, low voice.
“It is not known that one exists,” I answered. “I saw something the size of an atmospheric flyer early yesterday morning. I would have bet it was a flyer until the wings moved --- like a bird.” X-tee continued to stare at me. I swallowed hard and continued. “Since we didn’t know the invisocat existed before our latest hunting expedition, it is possible there is a huge eagle that eats the tree-dwellers. I’m here to locate other probable nesting sites in the vicinity.”
X-tee shook his head. “Ky, no disrespect, but I hope this thing doesn’t exist,” he whispered. “Because this mountain is the biggest, highest, most protected place around. And that means that said eagle probably calls this place home. Not good news for the settlement.”
“I agree,” I told him. “I would rather learn what we can about it before we have to meet it in battle. Perhaps, we need a new front door and balcony.”
He nodded. “Perhaps, but I think it’s more likely that we’ll focus our efforts on more effective weapons.”
“That’s sad,” I whispered. “I was hoping we could find a way to share the mountain with it. After all, we wouldn’t need to use the main cavern if we had another exit.”
“That would be a difficult notion to sell within the settlement,” he confessed. “The eagle would have to be something we could communicate with intelligently for very many people here to consider cohabitation.”
“So, does that mean the exploiters are gaining a louder say within our community?” I asked mystified.
“They have always had a strong presence,” he said quietly in a long-suffering tone. “They phrase their words in terms of safety and the good of the people.” He paused, his right upper lip lifting into a sneer. “I don’t want us to repeat the mistakes of our past. This world is all we have, especially if we can’t get back into space. We must be more careful with this planet.” His voice had gradually gotten louder and then dropped back to a whisper. “Go make your observations and get out of my way,” he boomed in his usual guard-captain voice. He softened his words with a wink and continued with his supervisory circuit.
An hour and a half later, I was in my commons having my dinner. While I ate, I pondered my rooftop visit, both my conversation with X-tee and my observations.
I felt perturbed that some of our people still adhered to the consumer mentality – the exploiters. In a nutshell, they wanted all the comforts and safety life should give them without regard for the effects the development and production of that commodity would have on the environment or the resource. It was this thought process that destroyed old Earth and sent humanity searching for a new home.
It’s not that the rest of us, the conservationist, don’t want to be comfortable or safe. It’s that we want our existence on this new world to have a minimal effect on the ecology of the planet. So, we study the interactions between flora and fauna, the results of our activities on the environment and apply our newfound knowledge. It’s a slow process, and it is worth doing.
My scouting mission yielded two high places, but only one other probable nesting site. The high place was south of the bowl. It appeared to be a tower capped by a flat shelf. It was high enough, but it didn’t appear to have any shelter from the elements. Nor did it look like there was enough space for a large creature to be. I supposed the bird might use it as a perch.
The other high place, the most likely nesting site, was to the northwest. It resembled a mesa that jutted from the canopy about thirteen klicks from the northwest corner of our mountain. It was unclear if there was a cave like the Main Cavern in it. I hadn’t seen any openings
on its eastern face, but there might be some on the western side. Regardless, this site looked like the second-best possible eagle aerie within a 32 km radius. I wondered if continued observation would allow us to get a look at the actual bird. If so, we could study its behavior. I shivered suddenly. I wondered why the bird didn’t simply force its way into the Main Cavern. Was it intelligent enough to study us before it returned home? Was it amassing a strike force? I shook my head to clear my mind of the silly idea.
***
Amerzan was famished again. He had spent the still hours of dimmer light watching the invaders from aloft. Except for those on top of his aerie and just outside the cavern entrance, there was very little to observe. He had seen that the individual creatures changed, but their placing didn’t. There was always a family group of hairless, tree-dwellers visible. Two adults stayed directly outside the cave mouth, and the other eight were positioned on the mountain top. A lone adult walked from individual to individual. Such behavior was not like the tree-dwellers! Where were the little ones? Were there more creatures within the mountain? If so, what did they do in there? Maybe they discovered a food source? Would I like it? Would I be able to get to it?
These last thoughts reminded him that he was hungry. He shifted his tail features, altering his course northward. He would return to the lake and dine on fish. A movement in the canopy west of his infested aerie caught his eye. A small group of tree-dwellers was visible through the leaves of the trees. No, he thought, changing his course to take advantage of this opportunity, I will not dine on fish, but tree-dweller. He snatched a large, adult male from among the group with his strong talons and beat his way back into the night. He had caught the creature unaware of his presence. Its dead weight would satisfy his needs for a few days.
Back at his temporary aerie with his hunger sated, Amerzan puzzled through his observations. He had seen the hairless tree-dwellers change individuals four times during the night. The creatures entered and departed the mountain top through a small rock cave. The arriving group gathered around the rock before they moved out to replace the individuals standing in set positions. The group being replaced moved directly to the small rock cave and didn’t return. A new individual became the one to travel between the motionless adults. This creature seemed to be the leader of the group.
