One of the Juveniles forgot its manners and burst out, interrupting the UtnAnali." What was the name of the little Ones? Why did the Huffh not eat them?"
The Old one forgave the Juvenile with a sad nod." The Little ones called themselves the Uni and the old songs tell that they commanded fire and the light crack of the skies and they could burn the Huffh. The Huffh could not eat the little ones. The Uni explained that those who gain thought and word would be allowed to join the Uni and share all the knowledge the Uni possessed, but that the Huffh had a long way to go and develop more words and more thought, before the Uni would allow that. The Uni took all Huffh away from the Old Place and they brought all Huffh to this Place.
Here is where we should gain more thought and more words and one day they would return and make us part of the Uni."
Another old Huffh grunted." They have not returned and have spoken untrue to us. The Uni did not ask if we wanted to leave the Old Place or if we wanted to join the Uni."
While the Old UtnAnali forgave the juvenile for interrupting her, she did not like to be interrupted by someone who should know better and scolded the Old male with a high pitched whistle. It was rare for an Anali to make this sound and he lowered his head and made all three motions of apology with his short tail.
The Old Utnalai accepted but kept an eye on him as she finished her tale." More Seasons than all Huffh together could not count have passed. We have learned many words and much thought and yet they have not come."
Caram did not feel much pain when he was not moving and thanked the Old one for the story and then added." Why is it that we must enter the Cave and seek the Valley when our time has come?"
She looked at the sick Huffh with much affection and said."This is the Place of life and the Valley is the Place of death. Only by passing through the Cave can our spirit be freed from the body and return through the cave of flesh we female Huffh have and where the young one come to this world. A Huffh cannot die in the community; a Huffh must be alone to die! Your agony would last forever. In the valley you are alone, and then you die, only that way you can return"
Caram found comfort in this and said." Maybe it won't be long and I will be back that way."
The Old Utnalai nodded slowly."This is the way and this is what the messengers of the Caves have told us ever since we have come to this Place. It is time now for you to go to the Valley!"
***
We had walked for the better part of three hours, when I suddenly felt a little breeze on my face. The Derma Patcher had healed Brenda's face, but she looked disfigured as the little machine could not do any reconstructive surgery. Neither of us was worried about that, once we managed to get back any doctor would be able to fix her up in no time. She kept herself busy with making scientific observations while I kept an eye on the scanner and held the blaster ready.
She had noticed the draft as well and just as she was to mention it, we saw light at the end of the Cave.
Interlude: Caram
Despite the pain numbing herbs, every step Caram took filled him with flaming pain. He and the Old ones had almost reached the Cave. Caram was almost glad it would be over soon. He hoped the cave would not be too long and too deep and the way to the Valley was not too far.
The Light of the Sky had almost set and its rays shone directly on the caves entrance, bathing it in soft orange light. The other Huffh had stopped a little behind and waited for him to disappear.
He was never that close to the cave. He had seen others pass, but doing the final journey yourself was quite different. He felt anger at the others, who were healthy, he was angry at the Old Ones who made him go! Why could he not stay and maybe the healers would find a way to help him better? He knew better of course, no Huffh with wounds like him and the bone fire ravaging had ever been healed. Maybe the Huffh weren't as bright as the Old Ones said. Maybe the Uni had not returned because the Huffh were still unable to have words and thoughts to heal bone fire. He sighed in pain and his anger changed into fear. What would death be like? What was there at the other side? How did they know it was a Valley if no one had ever returned? The little ones that came through the flesh caves remembered nothing. He did not remember if he had done this once or perhaps many times before.
He looked up and saw two bright glowing eyes moving in the cave!
He stopped.
The Utnalai huffed." Do not stop now, go with dignity! Show us that your spirit is still as strong as your body once was!"
"There are eyes coming!"
The Old one wanted to rebuke him, but now she saw the intense bright lights moving.
***
"Oh my god!" Brenda stopped."Land walkers!"
I saw them too, they were hard to miss. Three of them, perhaps twenty meter outside the Cave entrance. They were big, perhaps not as big as Tyranno's but not by a great difference. Brenda said they look exactly like Ambulocetus only much bigger."
We had both stopped and I checked my TKU and dialed it to seventy percent and tight beam. I had about 20 bolts left and only one spare energy pack. I wished I had taken more, but I didn't expect this to be a longer trip, but twenty bolts should be enough to fry a whole lot of them. Without taking my eyes of the cave entrance and the monsters I asked." What is an Ambulocetus?"
"It is an extinct animal of Planet Earth, called the Walking Whale, an early cetacean that existed about 50 Million years ago. There was a reconstructed model in the collection of my University, only the one we had was about 4 meters long. The middle one measures at least 16 meters."
I sighed inwardly; everything was always compared to Earth Animals. They did it in Union School and they did it at the Academy. Did they not realize that most of the Union had never seen any Terran animals, left alone extinct ones?
She said in a subdued voice."What do you think we should do?"
I kept my voice down as well."Too late to play it subtle, they have seen our helmet lights, maybe we should fry one of them to show we are no easy prey. Did those Ambulothings of yours eat meat?
"Yes Ambulocetus was carnivorous and hunted much like the Terran Crocodile."
"You realize I have never seen a Crocodile and I am not exactly fresh on other Terran critters."
"I am sorry." She said and then pointed at my weapon." I don't really want to introduce ourselves that way."
"I wasn't really thinking about exchanging greetings with some land walking Crococetus, but sitting here won't do us any good either. We need to get into the open and see if we can get a GalNet Connection or see if we can determine some other way where we are in this Universe of ours."
Interlude: Caram
The bright lights went out! Caram and the old Utnalai could now see the two little figures about 10 Huffh lengths inside the Cave.
The other Huffh became curious what was happening as Caram had not entered the Cave. It was a solemn act and usually the spectators were quiet, but a young one could no longer stay quiet and yelled." Is Caram not able to walk anymore?
The Old Huffh turned her head and responded." The Uni have returned!"
Nothing could have had a greater impact. The words were repeated throughout the crowds and herds until the last family had heard it. Everyone knew the Old Story, even those who were too far to hear the retelling from earlier on. Waves of emotions came through all the Huffh present and the old Utnalai felt both, the wonder and the aggressive feelings of some in the herd. The Huffh were angry at the Uni for being taken from the Old Place without even being asked. Have they come to make them Uni? Have they come to take them to another Place? The Old Huffh did not like any of these possibilities. She liked being the one on top. The oldest, wisest and the one everyone asked. Would she have such a Place of importance with the Uni? They were little and only two; they looked a lot like the tree hanglers of the southern forests, but with less fur. The Huffh were stronger than anything on the world.
Uglam, was a strong male and he was healthy he felt the thoughts of aggression from the Huffh and he rus
hed forward, up the light slope. The Old one did not stop him so he went on. He would crush the Uni and then find out how they tasted.
***
The three monsters at the cave entrance did not move, but a fourth one suddenly brushed past them and its intentions were not a big mystery. It roared and had its maw wide open, full of frightening teeth.
Even though this was a first contact situation, these were mindless animals and not members of a sentient civilization. I pressed the butt against my shoulder, had the center of the open maw in the sights and fired. The energy plasma generated by the combination of a few atoms of anti matter with positive matter funneled by force fields into a narrow hit the charging huge animal at near light speed and several million degrees of thermal heat. Union TKU (Thermo Kinetic Unit)were not as elegant or as sophisticated as laser or E Blasters and had a considerable recoil, but there wasn't much else out there that delivered quite the same punch. The blast had burned a fist size hole right through the entire length of the beast. Its momentum carried it a few more meters and it collapsed right before us.
The air was filled with the stench of burned flesh and the thing was still moving, still alive! It took two more shots before it stopped.
Interlude:Caram
Caram and the old Huffh saw the bright white flash and heard the crack, Uglam fell! The spirits of the Huffh still kept him alive, but then the last thought of Uglam fell silent and he was gone! A Huffh had died and he was not alone! The Huffh fled in panic. The Old one also turned as fast as she could and followed the others downhill. Caram however was at the end of his strength he could not turn, and now with the others running he did not have their support either. He too would die right here, burned by the bright lightning of these terrible little monsters!
***
Just as I expected the other beasts fled, but one of them remained, it did not move much at all. Brenda stared at the dead carcass before us and she looked sad. "It is a shame we had to kill it."
"It's not like we had a lot of options and it doesn't look it is the only one. I just wonder why the big one out there isn't running."
"Don't shoot it!"
"I am not going to shoot anything that isn't attacking us, but I really think we need to get out of this cave."
Brenda slowly slipped by the dead beast and closer to the entrance. I followed her, the TKU ready." Be careful, BB. We don't have all that many energy packs you know."
You know I think the beast out there is one that was about to pass to the Valley. I think it is wounded or hurt or something. It only uses its front legs while it drags its hind legs."
"Wounded Fangsnappers are worse than healthy ones!"
The huge beast out there did not make any aggressive moves and Brenda started talking to it in a soft calming tone.
Interlude: The Huffh
The Huffh were upset, disturbed and there was panic and fear. Everyone had felt the death of Uglam and it was the most horrible experience to them all. Now it became clear to them why a Huffh had to go through the Caves to seek the Valley and die alone. They all had felt the pain and the agony, and the final sting of death. The Huffh shared their love and affection but also their other emotions.
What would happen? Would the Uni take them away again or perhaps kill them all?
Death was a metaphor something that happened far away and never among the Huffh and now it had happened and it caused several Huffh to fall in a catatonic shock. Young ones cried and could not be comforted, because the Alai were afraid and shocked themselves.
What manner of death was this? It was like the bright light that sometimes tore the heavens during rain and storm, but it was much stronger. The Uni could speak the light and it burned! Not even strong Uglam could stand against it!
In their panic they had forgotten Caram up there by the Cave. Without their support he would be even slower. Would he die here as well? Send another wave of shock and darkness throughout the herds?
More and more Huffh came, even those who had not come to bid farewell to Caram were now on their way. They all wanted to hear what the Utnalai would say.
They all looked at her now for advice and counsel and she had none to give. Legends and stories were not meant to come true!
"Tell us what we are to expect and to do!"
She had to say something, if she did not say something and then someone else did, her leading role would be over forever, she was well aware of that and so she said. "Let us go to the Cave of the Things that have been left by the Uni. They will most certainly go there and if they see we have been good stewards, maybe they will talk to us."
A strong young male Huffh raised his head above the others and said." Why should we listen to them? They have made death on Uglam! We should scatter and hide and maybe they leave!"
No one had ever questioned the decision of an Utnalai before! Yet she felt that there was not as much outrage over his outrageous behavior as she wished there were." Be silent! You are young and do not have the wisdom and you are not Alai! You do not have the cave of life! "
The young male also felt what she felt of course and did not fall silent at all."Your wisdom then! Tell us why they are here. Tell us why they made death on Uglam and what they want from us. If you cannot you have as much wisdom about this as the most junior Huffh!"
He became more aggressive and opposing by the moment. The Old Huffh knew why! The experience of death had broken barriers that would have not been crossed otherwise."You did not listen to the old story then. It clearly says that the Uni will return and there are Old secret songs only Utnalai know!" She felt ashamed inside. It was the first time a Huffh had not spoken the truth! There were no secret songs. The feeling of death had also changed her! It worked however, the Young male had no answer to this and lowered his head and the common feeling was once again turned to the Old Utnalai, one of her old friends. The one that would take her Place said." You have not shared these secret songs with me yet. Would it not be time to share them with us now? So we know what to do?"
Another Female said." What are their secrets? We are the Huffh! I do not know what this means?"
Not telling the truth was not very good she realized, now she was put on the spot and had no answer." It is necessary to keep some knowledge only to those who guide. Let us go to the Cave of Things and I will share one of these secret stories so we know what to do."The second lie came to her much easier and she wondered how long she could keep this up before they realized what she was doing. On the other side of things there were the Uni and maybe their presence made it all a mood point.
***
The thing was ugly and big and now I too saw the broken hind legs, and the puss oozing gangrene around the bone sticking through its skin. It was hurt badly and I could imagine in terrible pain.
Brenda got excited." I think this Land walker was about to enter the cave so it could pass to the valley and die and maybe by doing so, it would have triggered that gate again."
While I paid attention to her, I was using my PDD and activated the emergency channels again. It would drain the energy reserves drastically but emit the strongest possible signal, and I did get a response! "You are connected to Union GalCom. Buoy 5294939-83883 DW. No civilian GalNet relay in range. If this is an emergency state the nature of the Emergency."
I had reached an automated robotic Fleet Buoy and said." I am Midshipman Olafson, transmitting identification sequence now. I need a connection to Fleet HQ."
"Identity verified, you are authorized Fleet personnel. This unit will connect you to GalNet now."
I got a sleepy looking Lt on and before I could begin he said." Midshipman, you reached Fleet HQ on a Sunday afternoon. According to your call code you are requesting to talk to the Admiral of the Fleet, if this is a joke you are in serious trouble!"
The words:" 45% energy remaining. Please recharge soon or rePlace E pack."
"Sir the Commander in the Office of the Admiral and the Admiral himself are the only ones I know to call with th
is unusual situation I am in. It is an emergency and I have little energy left!"
"This has to be a joke! According to this you are calling from the Cygnus Arm in the Downward Sector, using an old Relay Buoy that was used during the Piostla War 700 years ago! Impressive hacking and simulating, but I have Fleet Security on you and they find you!"
He actually cut off the transmission!
I had 25% energy left and of course no spare E pack. Under normal conditions the PDD packs held for 2 years and I had the thing barely a year, but transmitting at maximum power was draining it fast.
Brenda had paid little attention to me or the transmission. She was still talking to the big Walker and using her Bio Scan PDD to make observations.
It then sank in! We were somewhere in the Cygnus Arm and Down Ward. This was unexplored space and basically on the other side of the Galaxy from Union territory, about 90,000 light years away and since the core was in between the actual distance a ship would have to cover was more like 120 -150,000 light years. I had learned about the Piostla war and one of the cerebral uploaded knowledge memories kicked in providing me with more detail. The Piostla came from this region and back then an effort was made to find their planet of origin. Several thousand expeditions were send in this region back then, the Piostla world was found, destroyed and the war ended. Since then only a few Explorer ships went this way. There were no outposts, no stations out here and it was incredible luck that one of the old buoy relay chains was within the 20 light year distance of the emergency range of the PDD. Now I was glad I had purchased such an expensive model, most standard units had a far lesser range.
I decided to wait. If the Lieutenant was alerting someone they would investigate and when I called the next time they would listen. I had turned the PDD off to conserve energy and told Brenda what I had found out.
She listened and was not in the least concerned; she looked extremely excited and said." I think these creatures are genetically related to Terran Whales! I also think the grunts and wheezing is some sort of language. I am running it right now through the Linguistic logarithms."
Eric Olafson Series Boxed Set: Books 1 - 6 (The Galactic Chronicles Series) Page 283