“But something as big as that long necked beast could run in and trample us all before you sounded a warning,” Paul complained. “Or if we are sleeping on the ground, some snake or insect or something else could just crawl up and kill us.”
“I can monitor as effectively as possible, but Paul is correct. I cannot guarantee a perfect sentry duty,” Tiffany admitted.
“So that clump of trees up ahead might be the best shelter we can find.” Brinley pointed.
They walked along the trail and found the grove of trees. The trees were tall and dense, with long spreading branches. The largest of the trees had very wide trunks and deeply grooved bark. The leaves covered the tops of the trees completely. Some of the trees were smaller, with different kinds of bark and leaves.
“This is fairly well protected,” Gretchen said. “I suppose we can nestle in under the trees and rest. At least here we will not freeze.”
“That is the only good thing I can see,” Paul said.
“There are fruits here, peaches, which we can eat,” Brinley said. “They look to be close to ripe. I have traded for these many times, but never really picked my own.”
“I do not see any fruits on this tree,” Paul said as he looked at the bigger tress with the thick heavy bark.
“Paulie, not all these trees are the same. The peach trees are smaller and around the sides of this grove. They have the skinnier leaves,” Brinley pointed out.
“I have some additional information about tree physiology and taxonomy, if you care for me to share,” Tiffany said as the automacube rolled around the grove of trees.
“No thank you,” Paul said. “I am exhausted. If you can keep watch, I need to sleep. I will look for the food in the morning. Unless you think we need to stand watch with you?”
“I too am pretty tired, but these fruit things are tasty,” Gretchen said as she plucked one of the yellowish orange colored fruits and bit into it.
“That I believe is an apricot, these are peaches,” Brinley said as she too plucked one of the fruits. “They are similar fruits, but not the same. I have also traded for plumbs, mangos, and other kinds of fruit. At least we will have food here as we search for the Reproduction and Fabrication center.”
“We have seen poison snakes, toxic plants, giant beasts, and now some fruit. Yes, this place is grand,” Paul said as he dropped his backpack and looked for a place to recline.
The light from the sky tube was nearly gone as they settled in under the trees of the grove. The space under the trees was dark, and the grass was fairly soft, after the twigs, rocks, and pits from the fruit were shoved out of the way. The sounds of the night were vastly different than on Inaccessible Island, or in the quiet corridors where the Free Rangers had lived. Nonetheless, all three people fell asleep rapidly.
The orange automacube parked just outside the grove and Tiffany, the artificial intelligence system, began to watch. Paul was snoring, while Gretchen and Brinley were rolled onto their sides sleeping peacefully.
An ear piercing high-pitched scream cut the night.
The light on the orange automacube snapped on, bathing the trees and grove in brilliant white light.
“Warning! Awaken!” Tiffany yelled.
Paul was instantly awake and grabbing for his handgun. Brinley was a bit tangled in the underbrush as she stood up quickly. Gretchen rolled out from under the trees and looked around.
Several high-pitched screams came again. This time from different directions.
The trees above the people shook with movement. Something black rushed through them and smacked Gretchen as she emerged from where she had been sleeping. She was knocked down brutally.
“Animals are attacking!” Tiffany called out. “They are in the trees and around the grove!”
Brinley had her handgun out, but could not see any target. Between the bright light of the automacube, and the blackness in the shadows, it was hard to tell what was happening.
The screams came again, beginning somewhat lower in pitch but rapidly rising in timbre.
“Woo wooo, yeaaa, yiiii!”
“Gretchen are you hurt?” Paul called out. He too could not see the attackers but could hear them screaming and dashing through the limbs of the trees.
“Tiffany? What are they?” Brinley called as she scanned the area looking for a target. She had the handgun and the organic disruptor weapon ready.
“I am unable to ascertain the species,” Tiffany replied.
Several black shadows leaped out of the trees and landed near to the automacube. They were a blur of motion. There was a thunk as something heavy struck the light on the automacube and it was shattered. This was followed by more thunks and crashes from where the automacube was located. Darkness settled over the area again.
“I have been toppled,” Tiffany related. “Additionally, the arm of the automacube is entangled.”
Screaming cries of a triumphal nature came from around the automacube.
Blam! Blam! Blam!
Paul fired the handgun as he tried to figure out which direction the attack was coming from and where Tiffany was.
“Let us alone! Go away!” Paul yelled in different directions.
Gretchen and Brinley fell to the ground. They were not injured, but had no idea where the animals were, or where Paul was shooting. The muzzle flashes from his gun showed him firing in various directions.
“Do you see the animals?” Gretchen asked with her face pressed to the ground. Her eyes were trying to readjust to the sudden darkness after the light had been extinguished.
“I am unable to perceive their locations either,” Tiffany said amidst the sounds of gunfire, screaming of animals, and the calls of the people. It was chaotic.
There were screeches, whoops, howls, and more of the high-pitched screaming. It was coming from the trees as well as around them.
“I cannot see them ! But I will scare them away or kill them, whatever they are!” Paul called back.
Blam! Blam!
“Paulie, stop shooting! You may hit one of us!” Brinley yelled as she ducked again. The flash of the gun was pointed in her general direction. “Stop firing!”
Suddenly, something very strong grabbed Brinley by the leg and yanked her toward the trees. She kicked vigorously and her foot smacked something fleshy. The grip on her leg was gone and she scrambled away moving as fast as she could.
“Something grabbed me with very strong hands,” Brinley yelled.
“That was not me!” Paul called.
“I know that!” Brinley replied.
The hooting and howling and screaming continued from all around. There was the sound of movement across the trees.
Blam!
Paul fired blindly upward again.
A dim bluish illumination came on, “Look for the attackers! Have a target before you shoot!” Gretchen said as she turned on the fusion pack light. The end of it was still stuck in her backpack obscuring the full use of the light.
Behind the leaves movement was seen as the high pitched screams continued. There were so many sounds it was disorienting.
“I cannot see one clearly to shoot,” Gretchen called as she wrestled with the backpack, the fusion pack, and the Willie pistol. “What are they? Tiffany help us!”
“I am in no position to offer assistance,” Tiffany replied. “Still toppled over, sensors blocked.”
“There you are,” Brinley called as she crawled toward the bluish light that was leaking through the backpack.
The black shadowy animals were still moving very adeptly through the trees and around the grove. One took a lunge at Brinley who barely scampered out of its way. It moved very quickly and was just a blur in her vision.
“Ignite and press forward to protect these poor fools!” A male voice called from the darkness. “Escort the women away. I will get the dishonorable man.”
“Yes, Longinus,” came a response from a woman’s voice.
Flaming torches lit up the night from a half dozen plac
es around. As many voices as there were torches sang out, “We are here, death is near! We are here, death is near! We are here, death is near!”
“People?” Paul said in astonishment as he blinked his eyes at the change in light.
The chanting of the people was loud and constant. The screeching of the animals settled down some. In the light from the flaming torches, which was considerably brighter than what Gretchen had been able to get turned on, the animals could now be seen as they retreated up into the large trees. The figures climbed very swiftly.
At first Paul thought the climbers were the people who were chanting, but then he realized they were not. The animal sounds were coming from the trees while the chants were coming from behind him. He pointed his handgun toward the animals who were ahead and in the trees. They were mostly hairy and black colored, with grayish faces, although it was still hard to tell much in the flickering light of the torches. They had heavy eyebrows and large mouths with mean looking teeth. They had especially long arms, longer than their legs. They used both hands and feet to easily swing up onto the higher branches. They were moving fast, and Paul had trouble aiming. Several squealed at Paul as he looked at them, one stopped and stared at him. That animal screamed another high pitched cry baring its large teeth at him.
Paul leveled his gun at that one, prepared to fire.
From out of nowhere a stick came down hard on his wrist knocking the handgun to the ground. “You shall not dishonor yourself further.”
“Youch!”
Paul turned and saw a tall man. He was wearing a tight cap, sleeveless tunic, short pants, and leather boots. He had coppery colored skin and dark eyes. On his forearm was the tattoo of the letter ‘D’ and it was clearly visible. In his hands was a two meter long stick, the end of which had a slender and sharp two-edged blade about a hand span long.
“Those animals are trying to kill me,” Paul complained as he rubbed his bruised wrist.
The man shoved Paul a bit with the butt end of the stick. “You invaded their nesting ground, and were eating their food. Who is the threat?”
“What?” Paul asked. He reached to pick up the handgun. The spear came down right next to the gun.
“You will place that away and not use it, or you will leave it here,” the man said.
“But those animals!” Paul said.
The animals were still yelping, but to a much less aggressive degree.
“The chimpanzees will leave you alone now that we are all departing from their home. You should not have come here,” the man stated firmly. “Put the firearm away, or leave it. Make your choice now.”
“I will holster it,” Paul said.
The man nodded and Paul retrieved the weapon and holstered it.
“Longinus, the others also have firearms,” the woman called back.
“Are the firearms covered, Oda?”
“Yes, Longinus, they are put away,” Oda replied. She was dressed very similarly to the man. Both were strongly muscled and moved with silent grace. Both had the ‘D’ on their forearms.
Longinus and Oda guided the people to where the orange automacube was overturned.
“Paul, are you injured?” Gretchen asked.
“No, but what about Tiffany?” Paul asked as he looked at the toppled automacube.
“The chimpanzees tend to play with the automacubes,” Longinus said. “I have not known someone to give a personal name to a machine.”
Brinley pulled the tangle of vines away from the machine, and then pushed it up and over onto its six wheels. The manipulation arm was now free and the wheels spun it about a bit.
“Thank you for removing the entanglements,” Tiffany said audibly, and not only through the small communication links that Paul, Gretchen, and Brinley each had nestled in their ears.
“So this is Tiffany?” Longinus asked.
“Yes, it is an artificial intelli….” Brinley began to explain.
“An advanced artificial intelligence system which is not native to a maintenance automacube. It looks like there have been modifications to its memory vault, with a technology to which I am not familiar, as well as supplements to its perception capacities and augmented aptitudes,” Longinus finished for her. “Impressive, as machines go. Hello Tiffany. I am the Longinus for this mission.”
Paul and Gretchen were surprised to hear technical discussions from a man holding a spear as they stood by firelight.
“I am Tiffany. I assume by your usages, ‘Longinus’ is an appellation or title or rank of some sort. Am I correct?”
“Yes. It is readily apparent that you are indeed strangers to our home. The Longinus is the name given for leaders of specific missions or hunting parties. I am the Longinus for this mission. My given name Sibat.”
“It is sure lucky you came along when you did. Finally, a coincidence that benefits us,” Paul said.
“Nothing fortuitous, or random in our being here,” the Longinus replied. “We have been tracking your group since the encounter with the giraffes. One of our technicians backtracked and discovered you have come from outside of D Habitat. She sealed up the entry you made, in order to continue the quarantine. We were assessing your intentions and whether or not you carried the pathogens for the infection. You do not.”
“You were tracking us?” Paul asked. “I never saw you.”
“We did not want you to see us.”
Tiffany then stated, “I also did not detect your presence until the encounter with the pan troglodytes. May I ask how you avoided my scans?”
“You may ask, but you will get no answer.”
“Pan what?” Paul asked. “Do you mean those vicious beasts?”
Before Tiffany could answer the Longinus responded. “Yes, the chimpanzees are classified as pan troglodytes. Chimpanzees are the most common of the great apes in D Habitat. They are more robust and muscularly built than pan paniscus, which are commonly called bonobos. The chimpanzees live in troops and when respected, they are not overtly aggressive toward people. An adult chimpanzee is as strong as four people, so they are not to be trifled with. We considered letting them just kill you, but when you resorted to dishonorable weapons, we had to interfere.”
“They were trying to kill us!” Paul said. “Of course I will defend us. That is not dishonorable.”
“Your choice of weapon is a disgrace,” the Longinus stated flatly.
“Forgive us,” Gretchen interrupted. “As you know we are strangers here and could use your assistance. Will you please help us? Will you forgive our trespassing into your homeland?”
“Gretchen what….” Paul blurted out.
The man pushed his hand over Paul’s chest and said to Gretchen, “Yes, you are forgiven. Yes, we will help you.”
“We do not understand your ways, and is it possible you could provide us shelter?” Gretchen asked. It was obvious that the Longinus was enamored with Gretchen.
“We will take you to our town,” the Longinus stated.
“Shall we assemble the yoke of spears?” the woman hunter asked.
“No Oda, these are not captured criminals, even though that one is dishonorable.” The Longinus pointed at Paul. “They need not stoop under the yoke of spears. Come we should lead them to Barnaul. Extinguish the flames.”
The torches were put out. The hunters had surrounded Paul, Brinley, Gretchen and the automacube, and were guiding them along.
“Is Barnaul your Governor?” Paul asked.
The Longinus and the other hunters chuckled. “No. Barnaul is not a person, Barnaul is our town. The Artemis is there, that is roughly the equivalent of what the other habitats call a Governor.”
“You have a good understanding of the other habitats, as well as the animals here,” Brinley said. “Do you conduct trade or other commerce?”
“We have had interactions with the Free Rangers who make their domiciles in the places outside of our habitat. You have the appearance of being one of those kinds of people. That kind of trading is a minor conce
rn, and usually only to the old, or the greedy, or sometimes to those with unusual needs. However, we study and work and live in ways to please Diana.”
“Is Diana the Constable here?” Paul asked.
Again there was chuckled laughter from the hunters. “Diana is not our Constable; we have no specific person who fulfills that duty. We do assign someone and give their name to the Central Planning Office to be listed as Constable, but that is only for their record keeping. I do not recall who was reported in that role. Was it you Oda?”
The Colony Ship Vanguard: The entire eight book series in one bundle Page 95