Tai Pan's bulk filled the entire sky, casting yellowed tints of light onto him as he passed from the shadow of the fronds of one tree to the next.
He reached the street and waited for the tram with a small group of katsurani and reggf. They were mixed, females and sexless ones waiting with male and female reggf. The Katsurani female existed to raise the sexless ones and to bear more. It was very different from the old reggf way where the male and female existed in joined roles.
The heavy tram silently came to a stop, floating atop a magnetic rail. They boarded the tram and took their seats, seats built for both the katsurani and the reggf. He swam in the giant seat chair, his tail not even touching the sides of the slot designed for it. Rilaef had read of the capitalistic system that existed before. He read how it worked, how many suffered because of it. His mother had said that the rail used to cost to ride, that medical care used to cost money. He shook his head in the thought. This system was the best. A society where the needs of the people were met and the needs of the empire were expanded.
He waited until the fourth stop and then took the shuttle tram to the lifting port. Listings of the ships and duty rosters were placed on the report board for all to see. He saw his name and his crew of two, Sareekar-ti-loggf and Rontinae aboard shuttle 334.
A katsurani under his command! He had to tell his grandfather. The old reggf had told Rilaef repeatedly that he would never lead. He was a kept reggf, a subject slave to the conquerors. But he commanded a katsurani!
He received his orders, showing load and lift in three hours. He entered the activation code for his two crewmen. Each member of the Navy carried a “beeper” that would tell them when they were to report to their ship. When the code had been entered even Rilaef's beeper went off, showing the docking bay and the shuttle. He went to the bay and looked at the ship. It was a huge cube, with a triangle at the top. The entire cube of the vortex shuttle was the cargo bay. The triangle portion carried the cockpit and the cabins along with the operating system. Along the four sides of the cube were long cylinders, running the length. Warp-pods took the entire top half of the cylinders, providing propulsion in space. Warp would tear apart the area if used on a planet, causing the equivalent of thermonuclear explosions, one per warp-pulse, almost a hundred per second.
Lift rockets took up the remaining half of the pods and carried the bulk of the carrier into orbit on a plume of smoke caused by rapid plasma explosions. These were more powerful than the reggf gravity engines, able to provide more power in order to lift a higher payload into orbit. The katsurani said that there were no adverse effects, either ecological or biological, it was only hydrogen. The last article he had read about it had reggf scientist studying it. If they found it to be harmful they could petition the Elder to have it changed.
That was what he liked about the system. Everyone had access to the Elder without having to go through a Leader. However, going to one's leader was encouraged. The Elder should not be bothered with trivial matters that could be handled at a local level. But something of the nature of lift rockets would warrant the Elder's approval.
Rilaef took the elevator to the air lock near to the top of the shuttle. He climbed into the sideways ship and made his way to the bridge, engaging the gravity plates. Gravity came and he stood normally. Rilaef sat in the commander's chair and accessed the computer. Cargo had already been filled, the vessel was ready to lift off. He sat and looked out the window at the yellow sky staring at Tai Pan's swirling clouds until he fell asleep.
Greyfur snuck through the patch of kray bushes toward the two giants. Their skins were of metal on parts, gleaming brightly and reflecting the glare of the sun, while the rest of their bodies were brown green. Their tails were thick and moved almost all the time and their metal faces bore one giant eye. The two were hot, burning brightly in the intense light of the sun.
Greyfur had never seen any creature like these before. Neither had he seen the giant mound that was their hive. They were Users and as such likened themselves to the game.
Yellowteeth watched from some distance back. His spear clutched tightly in his fist. Greyfur was the older of the two and always took the risk first. They would be the first to play the game with the new Users.
Greyfur tossed a rock. The two giants turned and he leaped. He reached up and grabbed a small box off the waist of one of the giants and quickly jumped back into the kray bushes. They turned and spit fire at Greyfur, causing the kray bushes to explode in blinding flame.
Yellowteeth was blinded by the hot glare and couldn't see Greyfur. He grew angry. These Users were not playing the game. He stood and yelled at them to stop spitting fire.
Greyfur rolled out of the bushes and hid behind a rock, his heavy fur sizzled and smoked by the licking of the flame. He looked back and saw Yellowteeth standing. The two giants spat fire at him and Yellowteeth burned.
Greyfur made his way back through the crags of rock, hiding from the one eyed giants until he made it to the safety of the bantau beasts. He climbed onto its horny back in between the dorsal and hip horn and rode up the path back to his home village.
Greyfur did not understand the new Users. They did not play the game. Yellowteeth was the only one bringing food to his family. Greyfur had to tell them about Yellowteeth's death. Greyfur would accept the family of Yellowteeth, adopting them into his own. At least his three sons could hunt and gather. They could support the new ones.
He rode quickly, running the bantau beast across the rocks until its breathing pods grew to an enormous size and quivered as if they were going to explode.
He went through the bad lands and entered his village. It was set between the bluffs of two dead cliffs, set there because of the water that ran up from the ground. It allowed them to grow their trees and plants.
He ran the bantau beast up to the hut of the Wise One, jumped off and ducked inside. The room was dark, with the Wise One sitting staring at the smoke as it rose from the incense bush.
Greyfur spoke and made the gestures, telling the Wise One about the giant Users spitting fire. He told him of the hive and the burning of Yellowteeth.
The Wise One put a pipe to his mouth and inhaled deeply. He closed his eyes and stared into the smoke again. He told of the giants being evil, sent to destroy all the peoples. The old stories spoke of metal men falling from the sky killing all the land.
Greyfur grew frightened. He saw in his mind the giants spitting their fire and burning the village. The thought made him sad and he cried.
The Wise One told him that his family must make the beads and messengers must be sent to tell all the peoples to hide. The metal giants must never find any of the people.
Greyfur took the box he had taken out from his under pouch and showed it to the Wise One.
The Wise One took the item and ran his fingers over it. Nothing like it had he ever felt. He licked it and smelled of it. The scent was strange and the taste caused him to spit.
Greyfur left the hut of the Wise One and went to his family. He walked through the village. Children played with the small animals and practiced the game. Their dancing and screaming made him feel happy. The loss of Yellowteeth was softened. He knew that the giants must never find them. These small ones were the hope of all. Life must be left to them. He remembered the caves, the hauntings of the Dead Ones. The paintings on the walls showed children playing. It had always been so.
He spoke to his mother and told her of the death of Yellowteeth and told her of the need to make the beads. The family worked while Greyfur ate and slept.
Dreams of fire licked his mind, blinding him in his sleep. He saw as he never had before. He saw the giants killing all the people. He saw the people run in fear. He saw himself killing the giants. He saw himself hunting other Users. He jumped awake, his eyes watering.
The sun was down and a cool breeze danced in and touched his rough cheek. He smelled his family about him and smelled the making of food. Feelings of warmth almost drowned out the dreams. But t
he words of the Wise One were still there. Giants burning Yellowteeth still stood behind his eyes.
He ate silently and then took the beads, leaving the hut of his family. He mounted his bantau beast and rode through the fields into the rock. He pushed the beast hard through the night, watching the heat of the day waft up from the cooling ground. He saw the small hot ones out hunting. Animals scurried away from the pounding of the bantau beast's spikes upon the rocks.
He rode until the sun broke the crest of the mountains and the rays bathed his drained body. He saw his breath mist in the early morning cold. His heavy black fur warmed him and hid him, his rough face barely felt the cold. He looked down onto the head of his bantau beast. It wasn't faring the cold as well as he. He punched the hard chitinous hide and felt empathy for the animal. It had to work hard. Every one of the people depended on it.
He broke out of the rough and travelled down a path. Before him lay the valley floor, cut through the center by a twisting river. The valley was carpeted by a heavy green, with cut fields growing the season's food.
Greyfur rode down the uneven ridge and into the valley. This was the land of Talltalker. He was a great hunter who used to belong to his village but left when competition for a female drew him into killing another of the people.
In the land of the valley he was respected and he led. They had a Wise One, but it was Talltalker that gave his voice to the people. Greyfur was about half the age of Talltalker. He only hoped that his words would be listened to and heeded.
As he entered the cultivated area people came out to meet him. Visitors were not common and when one came it was a special event. He rode through the people when he saw Talltalker leave one of the huts. He was a whole head taller than Greyfur, and lived to his name. He was one of the very few that spoke only with his mouth.
Greyfur jumped from the back of the bantau beast and handed Talltalker the beads. He told the people of the giants, he told them of the words of his village's Wise One and he told them of the spitting fire.
Talltalker told Greyfur to follow him into the hut of the Wise One. Greyfur followed Talltalker as he ducked into a hut. Inside was dark with the smoke of a burned out fire smoldering in the center. The old one was not asleep, but sitting staring at the beads that Talltalker handed him.
Greyfur repeated his tail and the old one listened. He then told Greyfur and Talltalker that to hide was right. This would be the time of death. People would have to leave the fertile land and hide in the southern mountains, where nothing grew and beasts never went.
The Wise One told Talltalker that no time was left. They must harvest now and leave by the next morning. Lives of all the people depended on them. He told Greyfur to return to his village and help them to prepare to leave.
Greyfur told Talltalker that he needed another bantau beast and Talltalker granted it.
Greyfur left the hut of the Wise One and climbed onto a fresh bantau beast. He rode back to his village, his body aching with fatigue.
The sky was clear, with a slight breeze blowing cooling air across the rocky land. He rode as hard as he had the night before, feeling the anxiety of absence and ignorance. Throughout the day the scene of the giants burning Yellowteeth replayed through his mind over and over again. Greyfur cried.
He saw the smoke before he saw the heat. Thick billows of black bellowing up from the small valley that was his village. He hadn't known that there was that much to burn to produce so much smoke.
He pressed onto the bantau beast's nerve pads and made it push into a run. They cleared the edge of the ravine and charged down into the remains of his home.
Heat pushed the bantau beast back to the bluff face. Grey-fur's fur started smoking, his eyes filled with water and he screamed. Thick black smoke filled the entire area. He could just make out the charred remains of some of the bodies. Most of the area looked like a thick tar, and burned. The heat was so bright that he couldn't see normally, he had to shut it out.
Greyfur stayed there until the bantau beast started climbing out of the small valley. Hope struck him and he pushed the bantau beast into a run and headed for the caves.
As he approached the opening he could see nothing. He jumped off the bantau beast and it collapsed of exhaustion. Greyfur gently walked into the cave and as his eyes changed to see in the dark he saw a group of the people.
The first one to come to him was Littlerunner. Littlerunner yelled at Greyfur for bringing the demons onto them. He told Greyfur of the burnings, the screaming, of the metal demons descending onto the village and spitting fire. They caused the ground to melt, they spit needles into the air that tore the people's skin off. Littlerunner began screaming incoherently and tears flooded his face. His hands didn't work into words, he fell against Greyfur and Greyfur held him as he cried.
Another of the people came from the recesses of the cave. They told Greyfur that the Wise One wanted to see him and they took Littlerunner, helping him into a corner of the cave.
Greyfur walked into the back. He saw many wounded. But the number there was much less than in the village. He asked Dreamingwhisper if this was all the people. She closed her eyes and tears weld in her lashes. Greyfur looked away and entered the darker area.
The smell of burned flesh filled the air, the stench was one he couldn't escape. It imprinted itself onto his memory. There, laying on a pad of furs, was the Wise One, most of his fur gone showing blackened flesh bare to the air.
The Wise One motioned Greyfur closer. He spoke to Greyfur, slowly with few hand gestures. He told him that he knew most of the stories. He was to become the new Wise One, the leader. But, he told Greyfur that there was one story he did not know. A story that the people were not proud of.
The Wise One closed his eyes and began the chant. He told of a time before the people had learned to control the plants and get their food from the land itself. He told of a time when they roamed the land at will, living without villages, in family clans only. Animals started to dwindle, the food supply grew short. The people had grown into too many. They didn't move to new lands, the great waters stopped them. Some of the clans continued to hunt. But they hunted the people, they fed on the people. Great wars began. Clans joined to fight the people hunters. At this time there became those that excelled at the art of the war. They studied and they killed many of those that hunted the people. They led the people and helped them to learn how to eat from the ground. They created a way, a path.
When those that hunted the people were completely gone the clans began to fear the war masters. Their ways were strange. They thought that they might hurt them. So they drove them out. Many were killed, and the rest hunted. They hid. They still exist.
The Wise One told Greyfur that he must go to the mountains to find the war masters. He told Greyfur that many still remained, living in isolation. He told Greyfur that he must lead the fight against the giants. They are worse than those that hunted the people could have ever been.
Talltalker listened to the giant's word speak after his morning prayers. Users had killed all the villages. Now the people lived in the badlands where no food could grow. He looked at the stolen box that Greyfur had given him. He thought of Greyfur, the smaller one telling Talltalker to fight, to steal tools and weapons from the Users and use them against themselves. The Game grew real. Talltalker saw the giants spit fire and burn many of his people. They had to learn how to fight.
He heard the chopping sounds of the air eaters rushing to them. Talltalker left the box and picked up the tube. The giants always came after the boxes, never the others. He climbed behind the rocks with the other people, the new warriors, and waited.
They saw the giants come in the strange beasts eating the air, screaming in the day. They burned with heat and glowed like a beacon. Two of them came.
Talltalker gave the sign and all the people warriors stood with the tubes on their shoulders as they had seen the giants do. They looked through the small tube and saw the beasts grow. They pressed the button, all at
once.
Thirty streams of smoke flew to the two beasts and they burst in a giant flash of heat.
Rilaef woke to the chime of the computer. He yawned, pulling his mouth fully open showing the pink and black roof and row of pearl white teeth circling the entire mouth. He looked at the observation screen and saw a katsurani and a reggf riding up the elevator. He quickly stood and walked to the airlock.
He watched the two ascend, the katsurani towering above the smaller reggf. He was a khaki green color, with thick black hollow hairs across his torso. He wore no clothing, except a sash and utility harness. The reggf was slight, soft light tan fur interspersed with streaks of pale white. He looked at the picture of her riding the lift up to the airlock. She wore an orange flight suit, just like Rilaef's, with a sash marking her rank and position. She was attractive, he found himself softening to her appearance.
With a snap of his head Rilaef popped himself into a frame of mind. He was a leader and should act like it, treating his subordinates as due their position.
The lift stopped at the outer airlock door. Rilaef pressed the stud and both doors opened. Extending his neck the katsurani stepped inside and spoke. “I am Rontinae, named one, Leader. I am assigned as navigator.” His voice was deep and resonate in the thick air.
“I am Sareekar-ti-loggf,” the reggf said, using the standardized katsurani language. “I am assigned as utility crew.”
“I am leader Rilaef-ch-kraouulf, command of Vortex Shuttle 334.” Rilaef stepped aside. “Enter and stow your gear, we launch at my command.”
Rilaef left them as they headed down the hall to the quarters area. He returned to the bridge and started the countdown process to launch. Rontinae entered the bridge and climbed into the navigator position. Sareekar sat in the communications station.
“Approval,” Sareekar said, holding the commo headset to her ear.
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