Anna leaned back against the counter. “Question number one. How do you prove yourself worthy enough to be the head of a clan? I thought all clan heads got elected.”
“That happens in existing clans and sub-clans. But, a new sub-clan or clan head first needs to be endorsed by an existing head of clan. Then, if they pass muster they get confirmed by the existing Elders of the endorsing clan. Their merit hinges on many things. Is the person a moral, loyal person? Do they inspire integrity and allegiance in others, put other’s welfare above their own, and possess a willingness to sacrifice for those who stand beside them? Can they provide food and shelter to a clan, supply teaching to the young, leadership to those who follow, and healing to those who take ill?” Desvren took a deep breath. “I know you possess the morality and loyalty. You have shown in one day that you easily provide more than you need yourself. I, as your tai’twain go with you, hence, the healing is taken care of. The only thing that really worries me is your lack of contact with many Golsidans. You need time to learn our traditions, beliefs, and ways.”
“Okay. Question number two, what happens if I’m not found worthy enough?”
“You lose the fifty percent earnings of your labor. You never get to try to form a sub-clan again and you’d have to give up your Wolfe name and swear loyalty to and take the name of another clan. Phsatorae would lose his earnings for the next three annuals and also his endorsement powers for the next ten annuals.”
“In short, I get a month to prove the near impossible. If I fail, I lose the shirt off my back and my chosen name.” All right, think positive. “I came here expecting to give up everything. So, I really lose nothing except my name which would sting. Andy and I chose that name for ourselves. We went to court and made that our legal name, ours’ to honor and prove worthy. But I lived that life. I’d only really lose a verbal connection to that life and my self-image.” Anna looked over at the Phsatorae. “So, what do I have to work with Phsatorae?”
“I endorsed all of Torxisa’s traditional holdings for your use. May they serve you well, friend. I now excuse myself.”
Anna nodded and automatically gave the traditional farewell. “May your blood stay strong.” Another question popped into her mind. “Jao, will my harvest increase the food ration sizes?”
Jao stopped at the door and turned. “The food ration sizes get determined by the harvest sizes. A delay of a day to compute the numbers exists. Tomorrow hot, everyone gets a significant increase in their portion size. Your harvest made a big, much appreciated difference. I, as the captain, plan to talk with the Elders about your harvest suggestions tomorrow. We need to speak mind to mind with the harvesters for three days before making a decision. If we follow your suggestions, Wolfe will get credited ten percent of any increase in harvest. May your blood stay strong.” Then, he left and the door swung silently closed behind him.
Anna took her food over to the bedside and stretched out on the bed munching away. “What did he mean about Torxisa’s traditional holdings? Wasn’t that the explorer clan?”
“Yes, clan explorer, our brother clan and this is part of their holdings.” Des swept his arms around in a circle. “You, my dear, now own at least for a month, a fifth of the Ladreti Khwa. The rest of the holdings lie out of your reach on Planet Golria and Planet Isadiea. It is a huge endorsement and shows that the Phsatorae believes you will succeed.”
Only the fact that Anna just swallowed saved her from choking again. A ship, she owned a fifth of a space ship. The closest she’d ever come to owning a ship before happened to be a kayak, not exactly in the same class as a generation clan space ship.
“You own the sections East 1 through 8 and Midsoutheast 1 through 8. I think I need to finish your mind-learning before we go into more.” Desvren lay down beside her. His mind touched hers. First, he showed Anna the location of his personal cabin. You can shower and wash your clothes there. Now, finish eating. Let’s get some sleep.
The alarm clock woke Anna up with her own voice saying eight sixty, eight sixty, eight sixty. It sounded both weird and highly irritating. She realized Desvren had learning tranced her again, because she knew how to shut it off. She stretched, yawned, and crawled out of bed. She got something to eat and put some food on the bedside table for Des. Then, she grabbed her dirty clothes, two sets of clean, and trotted off to Des’s cabin.
The stick did indeed seem to be Des’s most cherished possession, mounted flush against the wall over his bed, both halves of it. Anna grinned all through a long wonderful shower.
Finally, feeling clean and refreshed Anna put on her oldest set of cleans. She hit the corridor at a trot. Running felt extremely fun to do in low gravity, gifting her with an unbelievable glide time between strides. Anna reached garden East 1, before she even began to breath deep.
Anna dug the hand press out of the back of a cupboard. She began pressing kapedo rinds with one hand, while she accessed information with the other. It took her longer to find the report she wanted than to press the kapedo.
Anna found the data thirty-nine annuals back in the last organized takosund hunt; the sizes of the nerve nodes of a six point three meter, a thirteen point one, a seventeen point nine, and a twenty-one point two meter takosund. Getting the supply processor to make targets to those sizes didn’t take long. She poured the kapedo oil down the funnel, scraped the pressings into the processor, and signed off.
Anna stuffed the targets into her basket pack, threw it over her shoulder, and headed to garden East 8. Thanks to Des’s trance teachings she knew where to find the hunting gear in the takosund processing plant. Five minutes later, she stood staring at a veritable knife armory that would do any survivalist proud. Decisions, decisions. Then, she opened the rest of the doors.
Wow! They have tomahawks! Anna traded in her basket pack for a more streamlined version. The new one had mesh bungees with clips to secure nets on to its sides and knife sheaths built into the shoulder straps and waist belt. It also possessed a chest strap to keep it from shifting and throwing its bearer off balance. Anna noticed the recessed sheaths in the small of her back for the tomahawks after she put it on. When loaded, the backpack itself held two tomahawks, twelve thin blade throwing knifes, four wide blade throwing knifes, and two (God bless them!) commando knifes. All of them placed for easy access and secure with nothing hanging loose to tangle her up or interfere with her movement.
Eighteen blades and two tomahawks should do it against four nerve nodes. Then, Anna glanced over at the targets. The smallest one measured eight centimeters across and the biggest one twenty-seven centimeters. She definitely needed additional knifes. Subsequently, a horrible thought crossed her mind. “Shit!” Those targets would be moving. More knifes, she needed a lot of knifes.
Anna strapped on layered calf sheaths on each leg, eight extra blades. The layered thigh sheaths added on another sixteen. Next, the backpack came off and she put on a shoulder chest harness. She put the backpack back on. Low and behold, all of the harness sheaths were accessible. The harness allowed her to add two more spring loaded downward hanging blades under each armpit and three small rib sheaths on each side.
When she finally headed down the corridor to Northwest 4, Anna carried forty-two throwing knifes, two tomahawks, three harvest knifes, and a small harvest machete. She looked like a knife-wielding, paramilitary-freak crossed with a bad-ass, motorcycle-Mama. She felt one hundred percent sure that any humans first reaction to her would have been to hit the speed dial for 911. She just hoped that wasn’t going to be the Golsidan reaction. Most of them had never seen a human before. Maybe, they would just think that humans really liked knifes.
CHAPTER 4
Harvest Chief Sato
Anna got to Northwest 4 at six of nine. Twenty-five Golsidans already stood lined up on one side of the hall. She knew from her lessons that she needed to report to the harvest Chief.
Not even one Golsidan seemed surprised by the amount of knifes Anna carried. But, when she walked past them and t
hey saw she lacked a tail. Then, she heard the gasps and felt the stares. A good thirty-five or forty years had passed since anyone had stared at Anna’s ass. She could now say with sincerity that it mattered not one bit whether it was a male, neuter, or female, a human, or a Golsidan. If they stared at your ass for long enough, it made you nervous. Anna felt pretty uncomfortable by the time she found the harvest chief.
The fact that the chief wore almost as many knifes as Anna reassured her. He also grinned hugely, looked as skinny as a rail, and stood about six foot four.
“You come to help.” He half growled. Anna nodded.
He walked a circle around Anna surveying her like a piece of property. “Can you carry a filled backpack?”
“Carrying a full pack poses no problem.”
He stared at Anna and asked in a very serious tone. “Can you run with the pack full?” Anna nodded again. “A pack-runner gives us the most help. We’ve had none in a long time. Would you be willing to do that?”
“Everyone uses marked bags to keep track of who picked what, right?” He nodded. “May I have bags of my own in case I have time to pick?”
He thought for a moment. “You use your nets. You put your pick on the furthest processor. You get ten percent of what you carry, plus what you pick. Agreed?”
“Do I need to process what I carry?”
“No, processors get paid separately of you, ten percent of what they process. You process your own though or you agree to pay ten percent to a processor.”
“Okay.” Anna smiled.
The chief threw back his head and yodeled. “We have a pack-runner. Do all agree to use this pack-runner?”
“Who are you volunteering to run? Will you run from second level or change your mind and words?” Asked a defiant Golsidan who stood slightly stooped in the shoulders. He appeared to be middle aged. Therefore, Anna assumed the stoop came from either exhaustion or malnutrition.
“I am Anna Phwolfe and I agree to run from second level.” Anna threw back her head and laughed, loud, free, and true. “The only thing that would make me run quicker would be first level.” A couple of chuckles agreed with her.
“Sign in then, if you dare?” Chimed the defiant one.
Anna bowed to him and turned to the chief. “Where do you wish me to sign in?”
“Sign in as pack-runner on processors one through five. Processors six and seven remain open for any who wish to carry their own. Eight will be for your pickings.” Anna went to sign in as the chief called out behind her. “Jatlo processor one, Krea number two, Pealo you work on three, Tawai on four, and Cima you take number five. Everyone else load up with bags and sign in your marks. Five minutes and we go.”
As Anna finished signing in and went to wait by the door she realized that the defiant one was Jatlo on processor number one. She looked the others over and found she easily remembered their names. She always used to be horrible at names. Had Desvren fixed that?
Oh well, if so, it proved to be a nice side-effect. Anna managed to pick five nets herself before someone called a full bag. Then, she picked two more nets and a call. Another net and the calls rolled in. They all helped her. If she knelt they put their bags right into the backpack. She clipped her nets to the sides. She managed two more nets before the pack near overflowed and the sides bulged with nets. She took care to notice where the kapedo fruit lay on the ground. She trotted over picked one up, wrapped her arms around it, and ran across to the ramp. She sped down it stretching her legs out. By the time she hit the ksenio walkway, she had reached her full stride and she raced across the garden room in a peculiar leaping, weaving run over vines and around bushes.
Anna screeched to a halt leaving furrows in the dirt at the door. She’d forgotten to ask for the remote and had to wiggle and juggle the kapedo while stretching up onto her toes to get her elbow to the door release. She trotted through and up to Jatlo and knelt. “Thirty-one marked bags Jatlo. Who should get six?”
“Pealo’s the fastest give her six. Okay, I have five. Go.” Anna made the rounds and asked Pealo on processor three to take six bags.
When Anna stood from kneeling in front of Pealo, she announced. “If anyone runs out, please process mine. I agree to the ten percent.” When she finished unloading, Anna trotted back to Jatlo. “Jatlo, I forgot to grab a remote. Where are they?”
“In the top cabinet, middle-shelf on the left hand side.” Jatlo pointed.
Anna reached into the cabinet and found it. “Thank you.” She said and pressed the button. The door slid open and she ran.
Anna raced weaving at full speed through the garden room, across the walkway, up the ramp, and onto second level. “Fulls, does anyone have fulls?” She yelled. She made the rounds at a trot picking up the fulls. She managed an average of ten to eighteen nets and a kapedo every run. She found herself constantly glancing about checking shadows. Whenever she got near enough to see the trees, she found herself looking for movement.
Two of the golsidans carried and processed their own harvest. Dasie and Brema picked extremely fast, being probably the fastest two workers on this crew. Anna thought that maybe her ten percent would cost them more than the worth of its benefit. She passed them often on the runs coming and going. She always smiled at them and waved if possible. After the first time, they always waved back.
Anna never really felt like she carried anything. She knew everything held weight. But, she still felt light when she ran. Her strides floated even when she hauled in a full load. She realized she needed to figure out a way to really work her body or risk losing bone density and muscle mass.
Anna grabbed more nets out of storage. The processors kept up with the marked bags. However, they only finished about a third of her nets.
At ten thirty-six, Jatlo gave up his stubbornness and blurted, “How can you run so?” when Anna sprinted through the door. “You are not even breathing hard. You breathe fast but not hard. I know you are running quickly. We can barely manage to keep up with the bags. The nets full of your pickings overflow the Processor 8 counter and you have to place them on the floor now.”
“You know that I am human.” Anna stated. He nodded. “Earth gravity is almost double this ships gravity. I feel lighter here with a full backpack than I normally feel carrying nothing on Earth. I need to figure out a way to carry more or I’ll lose bone and muscle strength. Can I carry some water up to the others? I’m thirsty and they probably are too.”
“I am sure they would appreciate it.” Krea said from number two. Tawai and Cima started filling water flasks. Anna finished unloading and filled the pack up with them. Then, she took off running again.
Everyone appreciated the water. Dasie and Brema seemed surprised when Anna offered them some. “But, you carry no produce for us. You make nothing off of us.” Brema stated.
“That doesn’t matter.” Anna said. “Water is free. I pay nothing for it.” She held the flasks out towards them.
“You carried it. You don’t charge for what you carry?” Brema asked with a wide grin.
“I charge nothing for carrying water to thirsty people. Such a thing should be free. It needs to be done for the goodness of it. I carry water to you which costs me nothing. You quench your thirst and harvest more. The more harvest, the more food for the people which is a benefit to everyone.” Anna smiled and nodded towards the water. They each took a flask and thanked her.
The chief even gave Anna a small bow. “You did excellent, pack-runner. You run well.” He put his full bag in her pack and started filling another.
Anna returned the bow. She noticed that the chief stayed closest to the forest. He always watched the trees like she found herself doing. “Chief, do you know how to use the throwing knifes?” He nodded. “Could you show me how to throw them? I made targets.”
“Made targets of what?”
“The nerve nodes of a six point three, a thirteen point one, a seventeen point nine, and a twenty-one point two meter takosund, I planned to practice at least a hal
f hour every day.”
“I will show you some.” The chief nodded.
“Thanks, Chief.” Someone cried full and off Anna ran.
It seemed like very little time passed before the Chief called out. “Twenty minutes people. Pack-runner come here?” Anna ran over. “As the agreed upon pack-runner, you own the right to carry everything in. You can give them the option to carry in their own last pickings. But, in doing so, you lose your ten percent of those last pickings.”
Anna turned and hollered out. “If you want me to carry in your lasts cry out. I plan on trying to pick myself full, so I will gladly give up the ten percent of what you want to carry yourself.” She trotted over to the nearest gesar bush, and resumed picking.
Everyone carried in their own lasts. Thankfully, the processors had started on Anna’s own pickings. Most of the harvesters processed their own lasts. Cima came up to her first. “Do you wish to process the rest of your own?”
Anna looked at the overflowing counter, the mounds on the floor and shook her head. “Please help me.” She hadn’t realized how much she’d picked, until she sat down at the processor and found herself surrounded by the piles of produce. “Please tell the others I still wish for all of them to help me process, if they want to.”
Jatlo surprised Anna from behind. “We will help you pack-runner.”
Anna smiled. “My brother would have loved to hear me called pack-runner. We chose the Wolfe name together. They are a predator that runs in packs. Pack-runner sounds and feels like a good name.” For the first time, Anna felt homesick because, she wanted to tell Andy about her new name “pack-runner”.
“You miss your brother?” Cima asked.
“Yes, but I know he wouldn’t have come, leaving his wife and son alone on Earth.”
Cima patted Anna on the shoulder. “It’s hard to let go of the ones we love. But, we can’t hold them against their will.”
Phwolfe Song (Golsidan Revival Series Book 1) Page 6