SAURIANS
Timothy Manley
Copyright © 2018 Timothy Manley
Published 2018 Digital Fiction Publishing Corp.
All rights reserved. 2nd Edition
ISBN-13 (paperback): 978-1-988863-63-4
ISBN-13 (e-book): 978-1-988863-62-7
Contents
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Thank You!
Also from Digital Fiction
About the Author
Copyright
Chapter 1
The giant city gleamed in the darkness. It was ancient, the oldest of all the cities, and it had been continually inhabited for millennia. Generation after generation it was built upon itself, new onto old, piling higher and higher. It never rested. Light shone constantly, illuminating every shadow, every dark corner. Everywhere except the ancient mountain.
The mountain’s sleek sides shot from the ground and grew thin until it towered far into the sky. It dwarfed even the tallest of the city’s buildings, a sheer natural pyramid. An ancient stone wall, built from hand carved stones, surrounded the base of the mountain. It stretched completely around the giant, a labor of generations by the ancients that revered this place.
The wall was fully enclosed and left only one opening. Above that entrance, carved in raised letters, was one simple word: Triconitae.
The word was ancient. It was the force that united the Katsurani. It was the reason that Krishnae stopped his silver ground car before the archaic entrance. He climbed from its open door clad in the primeval armor of gold granted by his rank as Clansmaster and wore the antique clan sword as was his right. He widened his eye slits to allow for the darkness and looked to the top of the Mountain, remembering the last time he had been summoned during the longest hour of night.
A young Krishnae rested with his females in the round cove made by the brambles of the syrrifia. He dozed, content, and inhaled the smoke of the mating incense. The older Krishnae smiled at the memory. He had been much too active with the females then. There was no need. He had mated not for the fertilization of the eggs but the sensual pleasure of the act.
The entrance buzzer disturbed the dozing Krishnae and forced him to crawl to the circular door that had been disguised as a rock. He opened the door and crawled out into the functional receiving room. Before him stood a young sexless one who wore a sash that denoted it as a Council messenger.
The paper was made from the patchie plant and sealed with the wax icon of the Broniteae clan. One of the old traditions that still existed. Krishnae took the scroll, opened it and read the message. It was written in the old script. The word was simple and easily understood. Arena.
The older Krishnae walked through the tunnel, its floor worn smooth by bare feet over the centuries. He remembered the original purpose of the arena, its blood oaths tying clans to the one clan. Even during the Wars of Technology, uniting those clans that were still outside the core, blood oaths were common.
He remembered the night of his first meeting with the council. He remembered entering the dark cave, the light from torches casting eerie shadows onto the walls and ceiling. He remembered carefully walking with a bravado that he was sure was transparent. He entered the center of the arena and stood, waiting.
Movement shuffled out of his field of vision in the seats of the Elders. Then he saw shadows move and one of them spoke.
“Young Krishnae Juinte,” Trarnif spoke, Council Leader and elder of the Triconitae, “you have done well to become Second Clansmaster of the Krishnae Clan, especially at your youth.”
“Thank you Elder.” He bowed his head, extended his neck and straightened his tail.
“How would you like to be Clansmaster?”
“My blood is yours.”
“Good,” the second to Trarnif's right, Kalgenatu, said, “you give your oath to us without hesitation. Good.” He sat back narrowing his eye slits into a smile.
“Are you aware of the rebels?” Trarnif said.
“Only of their sabotage, Elder.”
“Their leader is your friend, Rauntuntun. He is Clansmaster.”
Young Krishnae's air slits froze. He had been close to Rauntuntun but never knew. He controlled himself and spoke; “I did not know Elder. He never made me aware of his other dealings.”
“Why do you suppose that is, Krishnae Juinte?”
“My loyalties to the Council are too strong.”
“Are they strong enough to eliminate this traitor?”
“Elder, a Clan War has not occurred in over one hundred years.”
“I am not suggesting a Clan War.” Trarnif spat with distaste, his tail rocked in agitation. “I am suggesting a sanction.”
“Elder!” Krishnae yelled, shocked. “Elder,” he said again after he had gained control, “That is not the way of the Triconitae. The Code requires directness of actions.”
“Do not quote the Code to me, Juinte!” Trarnif screamed and stood as he slammed his fist onto the table.
“Forgive.” Krishnae dropped to his knees and extended his neck in submission. “I forgot my place.”
“We have asked you here because of your loyalty,” Trarnif, said, continuing to stand, his tail swishing violently. “You offered your blood to us, do you now withdraw that offer?”
“No, Elder.”
“The sanction should be completed within twelve days.”
“Kunte!” Krishnae hailed, turned and left.
A violation of the Code! Krishnae's life had been in respect to the Codes. Many in the modern age set the Codes aside for ease of their lifestyle. He had not. But, to violate the Codes on the order of the Elders. The situation was itself at odds with the Codes. They called for directness of action, solutions to be the most efficient, and lacking in subterfuge. They called for the openness of all dealings in order for clans to survive. They also disbanded the ancient practice of killing the eggs of the defeated, but instead the victor adopted them as their own.
Krishnae didn't know why Rauntuntun became rebel. The Wars for Unity were never over. Too many still clung to the old traditions, the old loyalties of their first clan.
That very night he went to the estate of Rauntuntun. He looked at the tall wall and remembered the learning of their childhood. He and Rauntuntun had been in the same thrak, destined to be friends.
He closed his eyes and listened to the noises of the city. They never stopped. The lifestyles of the Katsurani had worked to span the full day, all day, all night, all thirty six hours, were now filled with activity. The instinctual activeness of time long forgotten. He couldn't even remember when his ancestors had been most active, dawn, dusk? He puffed his air slits in a chuckle and jumped to the top of the fence.
He could see a lone figure move at a steady pace through the trees that ringed Rauntuntun's lodge. Guards, Krishnae narrowed his eye slits in a smile. They made fun of his size as a child. His ancestry was of the Southern Lands, smaller than normal. He leaped down silently, his size now the asset.
The guard passed by oblivious to any threat. Krishnae made his way to the lodge. It was domed with only one floor of its large structure above ground. The grass and trees grew on the roof. Round windows ringed its circumference until they came to the stairs leading down to the doors.
Krishnae forced open a window and dropped in. He knew the lodge well. During Rauntuntun's last hatching he had been present, and many times before that. The two of them had been fast friends, loyal to each other. He wondered wh
y Rauntuntun had kept his rebel dealings a secret. He wondered of his loyalties to the Elders, and his loyalties to his friend. Which would he have taken as more important if Rauntuntun gave him the question? Rauntuntun wasn't sure, so he didn't force Krishnae to make the decision.
He moved silently through the halls and down the stairs to the level of the bedroom. On the third level he rounded the corner and was surprised by someone standing before the bedroom door. The guard was also startled, having been half asleep. He stared and started to raise the slug thrower that hung beneath his arm. Krishnae moved quickly, striking him in the air slits, and tossed the small automatic weapon to the floor. The guard fell and struggled to his knees, his breath coming is rasps while he tried to draw his neck inside his chest, behind the cover of the bone ridge. Krishnae struck him again, knocking him unconscious.
Krishnae took the blade from the guard’s baldric and opened the bedroom door. He worked his way through the thick brambles until he reached the center. There lay Rauntuntun, his neck fully extended, eye slits clenched close, thrusting his mating bone against the female he straddled. They were locked, their polyps intertwined, the pleasure obvious in both their faces.
Three eggs were already in the nest. She had already delivered the eggs and they were mating again.
Krishnae stepped into the nest and thrust with the blade, piercing through Rauntuntun's lower abdomen, slicing both livers. Rauntuntun fell and died as his body poisoned itself. Realization came to the female as Rauntuntun's body fell limp on top of her. She opened her eyes and pushed the body off.
“I am yours Krishnae,” she moved toward him, here eye slits narrowed enticingly.
“No,” Krishnae said to her, “this clan must die. One people one clan.” He swung the blade across her neck, slicing open her air slits. She collapsed and drowned as her lungs filled with blood.
Krishnae stepped over to the eggs. They were soft and white, lying in the bed of red grass. Krishnae closed his eye slits and looked to the top of the syrrifia. Images from the Triconitae floated to his mind. He felt a traitor to his race, he was a violator of all he held dear. He followed the rule of the Council instead of the rule Triconitae. “Never more,” he rasped through teeth partially closed and crushed the eggs.
Remorse came to the older Krishnae as he remembered his actions so many rotations ago. He returned to the council that night and they rewarded his service by making him Clansmaster and giving him position Pos-ti.
He shook himself from his memories and entered the Arena. He had been to the Arena many times as Clansmaster, his power growing until some even said he was to be Elder.
Krishnae widened his eye slits to let in the dim light from the flickering torches. He could see the shadows of the Elders sitting above him. He knelt and spoke, “I have arrived as summoned, Elders.”
Trarnif leaned into the dancing light, his once green skin brown with the advances of age, and said, “The discussion here tonight concerns our entire race. Only you are of power enough to lead the venture that must proceed.”
“My blood is yours, Elder.”
“But,” Trarnif continued, “One that is not Elder cannot proceed. So, Krishnae, remove your clan sword and armor.”
Krishnae obeyed, unbuckling the straps at his side and opened the shell of his armor and kneeled down, setting it on the ground exactly and with as much respect as he could. He grabbed the sword and swung it out to his side and then back with the blade under his arm. He laid it down next to the armor, gently, and with reverence. Ivory robes were all that remained, held in place by the heavy sword belt. With a swift motion he opened the latch that held the belt in place and laid it behind him. He pulled the robe off over his head and then stood nude before the Elders. His once thick, soft black fur that covered his entire body, growing up from the knees to the shoulder bones below the ridge of the neck and spreading across his upper arms, was now yellow with age.
Trarnif stood and clapped his hands together. Out of the darkness came a sexless young one. It carried the robes of the Elder draped across its arms. Krishnae took the robes and put them on.
“Krishnae, you are now Elder.” A light switched on showing a doorway set into part of the Arena wall. “Come.” Trarnif left, the other Elders following him.
Krishnae looked down at the robes that draped his body. He had imagined this moment but never believed it to become true. He puffed his air slits and narrowed his eye slits into a smile. He would now finally vindicate his sins.
Krishnae walked to the door and entered. Through it was a room with steel walls and a round table. All were equals in this room, none had the seat of superiority. He turned as an almost invisible door opened in the far wall and the others entered.
There were a total of five Elders before him: Trarnif, Kalgenatu, Kaltnau, Rontintae and Karupupu. They entered and sat. One chair remained empty. Krishnae sat there.
“The situation we are in requires drastic methods to correct,” Karupupu said with a puff of his air slits.
“Exactly what is the situation you speak of?” Krishnae asked, relishing in his ability to speak to the other Elders as an equal. He struggled hard not to widen his eye slits in a grin.
“Explain to us, Elder,” Kalgenatu said, “the situation in the Fleet.”
“Eleven systems out of fifteen have been fully industrialized.” Krishnae spoke with rote memorization. As Pos-ti he had to give reports to the media almost constantly. “The Fleet keeps vigil over worlds making sure no Clan grows in power to take control away from the appointed Governors.”
“What of the other four systems?” Kalgenatu asked.
“They are empty stars, orbiting them are dead worlds and vast areas of asteroids. These systems are used for mining exclusively.”
“What are the capacity for colonization of our worlds?”
“These systems are at their full capacity. Any extra individuals of a sizable number would overload their ability to self-support.”
“Have you not noticed the drop in industrial production?” Kalgenatu asked, his brown neck and head like Trarnif's.
“Yes, but there exists production and economic cycles of low and high periods. I have thought nothing of this one, believing it to be the cause of a recent surge in population growth. We will adapt, as we have always.”
“The problem, Krishnae,” Rontintae broke in, “is exactly what you have stated, our population. With every egg of every Thrak surviving our population grows unchecked.”
“The thought of restricting eggs by destroying all but one per year per clan has been proposed.” Kalgenatu narrowed his eye slits in sadness.
“That violates not only the tenets of the Triconitae but also the nature of our race. The nestlings are the most important thing to every clan.”
“Yet you have imposed mating restrictions within your own clan,” Kaltnau said.
“As do many, due to our high population, I understand the problem. But destroying the eggs of the clans is not the answer,” Krishnae said.
“That is understood, Krishnae,” Trarnif said softly, “so we have proposed an alternative.”
“If we turn our total productive capabilities towards one goal we could prevent the problem of continued industrial reduction and even the self-imposition of mating limitations,” Kaltnau said.
“I have some ideas, Elder,” Krishnae said out of habit. “But I do not think that many of them will be adopted.”
“These plans of yours are not the goal we speak of,” Trarnif said.
“Krishnae,” Trarnif narrowed his eye slits in a smile, “do you support the military actions that occurred during the Wars of Technology?”
“Of course,” Krishnae narrowed his eye slits in curiosity, everyone supported the Great War. “The actions done then were necessary to forge one Clan. It was the greatest War of Unity.”
“It was the first time spaceships were used in combat,” Kaltnau said.
“We have the opportunity to do the same again,” Trarnif
hesitated, his eye slits growing wide in a grin. “Do you recall the probes sent across the Great Chasm?”
“Yes, of course,” Krishnae answered. “Young ones are taught about them in school, the folly of such a move. That such a waste of effort and material shouldn’t be pursued.”
Trarnif’s eye slits gleamed in a broad grin. “They did give us data. We’ve known about alien life in that system for quite a few years.”
“What?” Krishnae yelled, standing and opening his eye slits with excitement mixed with anger. “I am Pos-ti and I have not learned of this!”
“We felt the information too valuable to leave Council hands until we thought the time was such,” Trarnif said.
Krishnae looked to the floor and then sat down. “You do not mean like the animals in Krysitz, I assume,” he asked.
“No,” Kalgenatu leaned forward, “these aliens are bipedal, a tailless, naked race of small creatures some distance away.”
“What we have discovered,” Trarnif said, “is a mining colony with production potential. This system cannot support katsurani life without artificial environments. But, it is obvious from the probe's data that this planet's environment is hostile to the current life-forms there as well.”
“What is their military status?” Krishnae asked.
“They have none,” Kaltnau said.
“You are saying that they are spartzitz?” Krishnae asked, narrowing his eye slits at Kaltnau. “This is not logical.”
“What is not logical, Krishnae?” Kaltnau asked. “That we have found an advanced race, or that they do not have a military?”
“By the Codes any advanced race must have a military.” Krishnae looked to the Elders. “This race, by the nature of their advancement, is bound to be treated to the honor of the Codes.”
“Then that is the question, Krishnae,” Kaltnau said. “Do we treat them as equals and move with conventional militarily effort? Or do we purge this planet?”
“We have the problem of the distance. We can just now reach across the Chasm if we build our ships correctly and carry provisions and fuel for such a long time-shift.”
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