More people besides Jack and Winona now crowded around him, cutting open his pant leg and working on his wounds. Others were tending to the injured Raspani, which had nearly lost its leg, and had collapsed, heaving in shuddering gasps for breath. Seeing the shredded and obviously broken back leg of the Raspani, he forced himself up on his elbows so he could see his own leg. Punctured, ripped and bloody as it was, it was all there. A week or less in a med lab and he’d be walking.
“Well Stewart,” a familiar voice said to him, “the next time you decide to go suicide swimming, try the river, where the really big skathers live.”
“Maggi, where the hell was that brilliant advice before I jumped into the pool?” He managed, with a faint grin.
She gave him a shot for pain from a medical kit and told him, “Jack says you saved that Raspani’s life. Blue is over there applying whatever it is they use for painkillers to its leg. He says if we loan him two med labs, he has a technician’s mind inside his head that can join them together to hold a Raspani. You can recover lying next to him if you like. They decided that an empty minded one would be too restless to stay still and heal, unless it had a mind enhancer to allow it to think. It will receive one of those just produced. You can have company. They fart a lot, you know,” she offered with a smirk.
“OK. I know now that I can hold my breath a long time when necessary.” He smiled.
Then he wanted an answer. “Where the hell did that gigantic ripper come from? I thought those fangs had come to finish me off. It felt very protective of me; even though that’s the first time I’ve touched one of their frills. It seemed to know something about me, who I was, just before it set me down. He told me he was sorry for my loss. I don’t know what it meant by that thought.”
Maggi looked at her old friend, and former fellow mayor of another city-dome on Koban. “That ripper has known a little something about you his entire life. So has his sister. They have owed a debt of sorrow from their mother, but could not find a way to pay it without causing you more pain. Did he manage that just now?”
“I’m grateful he jumped in and saved me, but what was the debt? I’ve never had any contact with rippers, and you know why.”
“That was Kobalt. He and his sister Kit were the first two rippers we ever raised.”
“Oh…” was all Stewart could manage just then. He was thinking back on what thoughts he’d received from the ripper.
He finally asked, “Do they know it was their mother that killed my brother and his wife?”
“Oh yes. Their mother passed on her dying thoughts to them as they were born, knowing their lives would be in control of the humans that had killed her. Such mature thoughts are normally forbidden to give to cubs, before they can understand the context. It’s very difficult to communicate with unborn cubs, because of the placental sac that insulates them from frilling. She was dying, and her cubs would be her only way to pass on her regret, so she pushed hard to send them her final thoughts. She hoped that her regret, mixed with her starving need to eat for her babies, would influence us to let her cubs live. I have known of their mother’s relayed feelings since they were tiny. I didn’t think there would ever be a way they could tell you. You were too bitter.”
Stewart nodded his agreement. “Time has passed, and I do feel bitter at Glen’s loss and of his wife, but I don’t blame Kobalt or his sister. I always assumed those first two rippers you announced to us a year later, were the same two cubs I saw the day the mother was killed. I have never experienced a frill session, even though I have shared Mind Taps with people many times. With you mutant criminals.” He grinned at her.
“You’re a half assed mutant criminal yourself now, you know. It isn’t as if clone mods are the latest fashion trend back in Human Space.”
“Right. I do know that. I have gradually come around to reject my former hypocrisy. Please tell Kobalt and his sister that I don’t bear them any ill will. And I’ll come around to thank him one day soon, for risking his life to save me, to finally pay me that debt.”
“Stew, I frilled him before he walked off to have his own bites looked at, and he had no idea who you were when he leaped in to help. You were underwater when he arrived, so that recognition didn’t come until he could smell you up close, and then you touched his frill. He was patrolling the edge of the Raspani compound, to keep predators from frightening the empty-headed ones by coming too close to the fence. He stays well out of sight of them himself. Had they not been screaming, he wouldn’t have leaped over the fence to risk scaring them even more.”
Stewart nodded. “Like I said, I’ll thank him myself. It’s hard to change, but I do slowly change.”
“I’m not saying when you should do that, but I have to point out that Kobalt and Kit are the two oldest living rippers we know about. Living with us, having medical attention and a steady proper diet has kept them healthy. However, they will not live the long lives we fully modified Kobani will. When offered such a longevity mod, assuming we could make it work for them, they adamantly refused. For much the same reasons all rippers hate to see a kill wasted, and never kill for pleasure, despite enjoying the food kills that are necessary for them to survive. Longevity isn’t part of the cycle of life that they chose to live. Too many rippers living too long on Koban would upset the balance between predators and prey.”
“I’ll go see them when I get out of the med lab. Even if I have to visit Koban to do that.”
She patted his arm like the much older women she was, despite looking like his attractive granddaughter. “It will do your soul good. However, both Kobalt and Kit have moved to Haven, forming their own pride. There are several other prides forming here. The new settlements will need protection and patrolling for some time before we tame the areas around where we’ll live. There are wolfbat flocks coming as well, for aerial scouting and exploring. The rippers and bats have learned to work together very well, and with humans of course. You won’t have to go far to find Kit or Kobalt when you feel ready to talk.”
He nodded, not appearing troubled by the prides and flocks moving to Haven. They had been fixtures in the lives of everyone on Koban for over two decades. “By the way, speaking of patrolling the fence line. How the hell did those skathers crawl all that distance to get into a landlocked pool?”
Maggi shrugged. “Winona watched two of the smallest ones flee after Kobalt attacked the two that came after you. All of them in the pool were young ones and still skinny, as you may have noticed. She saw the two smallest ones swim into the deeper water where there are shadows, and they never came back up. She watched and waited. They can only stay down for about ten minutes when they’ve been swimming so hard. She and I think there is a narrow underground stream passageway from here to the river, and the adults can’t get through.”
He considered this a moment. “It makes sense. We picked this spot for the Raspani compound because of the clear spring that feeds this pool and keeps it cool. We can feel the upwelling water, coming from the higher elevations of the foothills to the north, rising out of some of the bottom cracks. We foolishly never asked ourselves why the pool doesn’t overflow into a surface stream leading down to the river. It must drain underground to the river somehow, which is lower than the pool here. The smaller skathers must have smelled the smorgasbord when the Raspani started bathing up here. We’ll have to install some grates down in the deep water, where they entered.”
****
The cross training classroom was full of aliens, and young, old, and new Kobani. They were sectioned into areas of specialization, at least for the instructors, and the alien students. The Kobani that were there to learn new skills and share experiences, wandered from group to group over the course of a few weeks, not needing to stay many days with any group.
Soft Grass, as the female Raspani teacher was named, or just Grass to most humans that knew her, shared her observations of the Kobani with the Torki and Prada instructors, both of them volunteering in the same technological learnin
g section.
“Even humans that do not have the education for understanding their own limited science, show an amazing ability to learn details of the most complex aspects of Raspani knowledge of quantum physics, and dimensional linkages between this Space we experience directly, and the alternate Spaces. Although they do not often understand how to use what they have learned. ”
Trumdor, the Torki scientist/technician, agreed with Grass’ observation, with a modification. “Their Mind Tap ability makes sharing of large quantities of data possible for any of the Kobani, with rapid exchange of questions and explanations. However, when full understanding is not achieved because the mind of the receiver isn’t up to the task, those with the wolfbat modifications can store the data they have absorbed. They seem to turn inward later, to form a greater understanding over time, as they ponder how to fit the information saved with new experiences. When they see a use for theoretical knowledge, many can then apply what they saved, to solve new problems encountered.”
The Prada named Shivar thought that Trumdor had described the distinction more concisely than had Grass. Not wishing to appear to correct or disagree in any way with the senior species representative, he spoke carefully, his low Krall speech now translated to Standard, via a device clipped to his chest harness similar to the one the Torki used. The Raspani, via their mind enhancers, had learned to speak and understand Standard directly, although their heavy lips and front tusks slurred some words.
“Grass, your observation of data retention by the Kobani, with frequent lack of knowing how to apply that knowledge matches observations of our elders as well. However, our Torki friend has also accurately noted a delayed form of comprehension in some of the less educated Kobani. Under stress, or some form of pressure, they often recall details of a particular technology, and apply it when they already know that it works, even without a full understanding of why it works. I have heard them say they do not know how their Tri-Vid recording and playback systems work, but can record or play a recording. They can apply much that we teach them, even if the majority cannot build or modify a quantum entanglement device that acts through superposition via hidden dimensions.”
Shivar didn’t feel compelled to admit that he didn’t fully understand the science behind what he’d just described, although he suspected that Grass and Trumdor knew this. The point was that many Kobani humans found ways to use what they learned, even when they did not have a firm grasp of the theory. It was proving true that humans with a better science foundation were adept at using the new Mind Tap ability to “unlearn” what was incorrect, and could firmly grasp theory that was new to them.
Grass expanded her elbows, a move that indicated her understanding of humans had been increased. Then explained how some human scientist could be about to make significant advances. “Several of the full Kobani, and at least one scientist, have offered to permit a small mind enhancer chip to be inserted into what they call their prefrontal lobe. It can be removed if they do not care for the results. However, it will permit them to access the data storage of any nearby Raspani mind enhancer or the similar Torki Olt, with the owner’s permission required from the individual involved, of course. Based on results of such sampling, they may elect to accept one or the other full chip design, or a combination of Raspani and Torki features they will elect to retain.”
Shivar had been unaware of this proposal, and was skeptical. “They are such a young species. Do they have the mental capacity developed enough to benefit from the volume of data this will make available? Most advanced species have had many tens of thousands of years more experience.”
Grass wrinkled her forehead in a smile. “On their own, without help from a race like the Olt’kitapi, they have surpassed every species known to us in the time from achieving primitive space flight, to discovering Jump travel, and then quickly engaging in intensive colonization.”
In personal recognition of Shivar’s feeling slightly inadequate, compared to the Raspani and Torki technical achievements, she elected to remind him of the Prada’s own unique level of advancement.
“You Prada did not receive assistance from the Olt’kitapi, because for your race it was not needed to move you into the stars, to help you achieve what you were capable of accomplishing. My race would have still been grazing fields on our home planet when the Krall came, if not for the Olt’kitapi assistance in our early history. Without their Olts, the Torki would have been building simple villages on shorelines of their home world when the Krall arrived. The Prada were already colonizing when the Olt’kitapi encountered you, and they believed you should develop at your own pace.”
Grateful for her words, Shivar darted his head forward, in the Prada nod of acceptance of the statement’s truth.
Grass continued outlining humanity’s unprecedented rapid development. “Now, with the Kobani modifications, humanity has done what no other species has ever even tried to do besides the Krall, to our knowledge. They redesigned themselves, and they have acquired abilities beyond any reasonable expectation, and certainly beyond that of the Krall, in less than a single lifespan. Thanks to the Prada’s single genetic experiment long ago, now a human lifetime is as indefinite as yours.” This was another complement for Shivar to relish from the elder race.
Grass made a Raspani shrug, elbows pressed to her sides, “Humans seem endlessly adaptive, incredibly adventurous, and from my people’s perspective, fearless of whatever risks the Universe offers.”
Trumdor summed up the Torki viewpoint. “The Kobani will eventually become the predominate race of the human species, and not only by virtue of longevity. Their main population Hub worlds will eventually desire the superior Kobani attributes, after they emotionally recover from the genetic disaster of their recent past. Once a human is changed to become a Kobani, their children will be Kobani from birth. If they succeed in defeating the Krall, as we hope, they will become a significant force in the galaxy, and perhaps a dominate force in the far future. Our view is that it will be best for our people to be actively allied with them, rather than be mere observers or bystanders.”
He broached a new subject, sharing a secret his people believed the Raspani, at least, already knew. “I suspect, in your long histories before the Krall defeated each of us, that you were aware of signs of distant civilizations along other arms of the galaxy. We have different names for these star streams, but in Standard, the nearest are named the Sagittarius and Perseus arms. They each provide far longer stretches of stars for potential evolving intelligent life to colonize, than what we find in the minor Orion arm spur that we inhabit. Before the Krall ended most of the civilizations near us, there were eighteen other species, of which we Torki have knowledge, and we expect there must be others not far distant.
“We believe some neighboring races probably knew of Jump travel occurring in our region of the galaxy, but remained distant when the Krall belligerently entered space, initially acting as agents of security for the passive but ancient Olt’kitapi. They would surely have grown deliberately silent when the Krall terminated the Olt’kitapi voice in such a short time. We believe these unknown species have done no more than draw back, to avoid contact with the hostile Krall. Simple observations by automated probes would reveal to them that the Krall swarm after every new civilization they find, and therefore they would remain hidden. This policy will not work for long with humanity, if they endure and survive this war. Humans will go exploring more widely in all directions, if they defeat the Krall.”
Grass acknowledged that many thousands of years ago they had hints of civilizations with Jump technology along adjacent spiral arms. “The distances made trade impractical, and we did not elect to risk long exploration to confirm our clues. The Olt’kitapi had built new and faster ships that could have made the journey easy, but they elected first to build a coalition of different species in this region. The purpose of the powerful mining ships they constructed was to gather raw material, to create huge artificial habitats around one or two s
tars that had ideal locations, with ample raw material and nearby civilizations, which they could invite to join them. Their first invited guest and coworker was unfortunately the Krall, who they wanted to be the guardians of these centers of advanced civilization.”
Shivar was embarrassed to admit that Prada history, with regard to this subject, was as fragmented as their race, forcibly divided by the Krall. “There are similar stories held by elders, but these are oral, as were the Krall histories when we were defeated by them. Over time, the original Krall history has evolved and changed, as they revised it to create a more flattering form to fit their racial prejudices. We Prada were not permitted to retain a written history, and did not have your mind devices to preserve our history intact. We now know of this loss, but it is one that we cannot undo until all of our separated factions have reunited, so that we might recover more of our history.”
A major societal shift made by the Prada on Haven was reflected in how Shivar referred to their former “Rulers.” Now merely calling them the Krall. The Raspani had made it clear that they were not the new rulers of the Prada. That in fact, they should not consider any other race as their rulers. It was not an easy adjustment to make, after so many thousands of years of loyalty to what they believed was the elder species, and thus by extension, wiser.
Prada elders, many experiencing doubts concerning aiding human opposition against a species no longer the eldest, but much older than their new foe, had been presented with an opportunity. Mirikami proposed they participate in a relay version of Mind Tapping, using several surviving Krall prisoners. The Krall’s unfiltered mental “charms,” were even less tactful than their usual indifferent actions towards preservation or welfare of their slave races. They had received thorough answers to the many questions they had posed to the impatient, hate filled prisoners.
Koban 4: Shattered Worlds Page 14