Janae kept looking for the birds, squinting against the light, and Ken was watching the arroyo. Something came bounding out from between the rocks, and it was strange. Not wearing any clothing, Ken wondered why someone was running naked, but then reevaluated his initial assessment of what he was seeing. It was not a person, or at least not a human-type person, nor a tant-type person, but was similar sized. Although, Ken could not estimate the distance, and yet the figure did have two legs, but was springing along on those two legs, with its body held mostly parallel to the ground, a great thick tail jutting out behind it. Two small arms were held close to its chest. The figure was a light brown color, which did nearly match the sands and rocks around it.
“What?” Ken wondered aloud.
“That is but the lead jack. Big, but not the boomer. Look, some jills are following right behind. Those smaller ones are jills, and here come some jacks, and I expect the boomer—he will be a big fellow—will probably be toward the rear. He will try to defend his mob, but that is where Orel is,” Lollard said as he beamed with pride. “You did not expect some bunyip, did you?” His smile was contagiously engaging, even though neither Ken nor Janae understood what he was talking about. Many of his terms were meaningless.
Before anything more could be said, a group of the things rocketed out of the arroyo and made their way into the vast open area. At least a dozen of them bounded out and headed away. The bigger ones—the jacks—were right where Lollard had anticipated. Last in the mob was the largest of all, what Lollard called the boomer. He was bobbing and weaving about as the bird, Orel, was flying right behind him. The bird was making darting attacks at the big animal. The bird’s talons were stretched out in front of it, very close to the big two-legged animal. Each attack barely missed the animal’s head, as it dodged and ran.
“Hurrah for Orel! Driving the whole mob with one flight! Oh, see the jacks and jills fleeing,” Lollard hollered, “Orel may even snag the boomer!”
“Huh?” Janae sighed out.
“What kind of…?” Ken muttered.
“Now, watch and see as Turu and Stobor join in! They will take down at least two and possibly three this day!” Lollard said. “You stay and watch the show. I know this will be a success, and I must be there for the dispatch.” He rushed away, and nimbly climbed down the rocks. “This is happening faster than I expected!”
The boomer was still being harassed by Orel, while the jacks and jills were running about, scattering to the sides of the open area. They were very fast leapers, sometimes bounding great distances as they rushed away from the pursuing eagle. The boomer made an unexpected stop, and the bird flew past it, but turned incredibly swiftly and sailed back in another attack run. The boomer stood almost straight up and kicked with its legs, narrowly missing the bird. The dance of attack and counter attack continued as the bird veered away, pumping its wings, and tilting to turn around again.
Suddenly, just a meter or so off the ground, the two other eagles jetted in very rapidly, aiming right toward two separate, smaller animals who were each on the fringes of the mob. The raptors’ wings were extended outward, streamlined to their maximum ability—those broad, long wings with tips resembling finger-like indentations. For moments, they flew in a minor dihedral with wings held in a slightly, upturned V-shape, which allowed them to maneuver and get right onto their prey.
One eagle struck with its taloned feet and scored a major victory. Ken thought of it as Turu—but he knew not why. Its taloned feet sank deeply into the neck of a jill and the prey toppled over. Turu’s wings flapped madly as it landed onto the stricken jill.
“Look!” Ken exclaimed.
“I see, that one missed,” Janae answered. She was watching the other eagle who had swiped at a jack, but missed. The bird had briefly touched ground but was pumping its wings madly, gaining height, while banking about to make another run at the prey.
“No! Look at what that man is doing,” Janae pointed her finger in a direction Ken had not noticed.
Lollard was sprinting directly toward where Turu and the jill were locked in combat on the ground. The jill was on its side, flailing its legs, but the bird did not release. Instead, it ripped savagely downward with its beak into the profusely bleeding neck. In just a moment, Lollard was there, and he gestured and called out something. The bird took to the air, and the man was upon the jill, slashing with something in his hand. It stopped struggling nearly immediately.
“Crazed animal things! Insane and brutal people! Oh, which animals are worst?” Janae lamented.
“The birds are attacking again. They are cutting off the smaller ones,” Ken observed. His heart was racing as he was reminded of seeing the tants butchering the animals in that camera’s view of the town, as well as recalling the bull killing the tant in Ida. “Such viciousness.”
Indeed, the three raptors had knocked down the boomer, but he bounced up again, kicking and leaping high in the air. The three birds struck him at different angles of attack, and kept him off balance. Once, a defensive kick landed and that eagle crashed briefly to the ground, but it jumped back up and soared away, apparently without injury. The boomer staggered away as quickly as it could.
Next a bird dove at a small jill and ripped the sides of that animal so badly, it tumbled over and the bird was on top of it jabbing with its beak. Lollard sprinted up and finished off that animal as well. He then turned and waved in triumph at Ken and Janae.
The mob had nearly made it to the far side of the open area, when the last kill happened. Two of the birds—Janae and Ken could not tell them apart—both struck at a jack and hooked into its back near the tail. Their combined attack actually lifted it briefly off the ground so hard that its long-nosed-face was dragged across the sands and through one of the spiky trees. It struggled just a bit as the birds let go, but it was gravely injured. It tried to move out from the spiky trees, but one of its powerful back legs was broken. The birds gave it no mercy and swirled back and set upon it again. Just a moment later, Lollard was there, and the third of the prey was killed.
“Hurrah! Well done, Turu! Excellent, Stobor! A fine flight, Orel!” Lollard’s voice echoed across the way. He turned and waved at Ken and Janae, again.
Ken and Janae turned to each other. They exchanged looks, but neither was sure what to say or to do. After some time of just standing there, while the mob disappeared from sight, the boomer limping behind them, and the birds had landed near to where Lollard was preparing the slain animals, they spoke.
“Do we still go with this man?” Ken asked.
“If it helps us get back to homebase, or to the scout ship, I suppose we must. But I think the massive systems failures here were not so much mechanical as in the minds and morals of these people,” Janae replied. “Everything is so disgusting here… but Jubal and Larson were worse.”
They climbed down, and the rocks were hot to the touch. The sky tube was even brighter, and they understood that they must have entered the biome at early morning. They both sipped on water from the RAM suits as they approached Lollard.
Lollard had dragged the slain beasts to a common location, near several of the large spiky trees. Their bodies were in a head-down position, tails, and legs bound to the larger spiked tree. Up close, they saw that the animals had a pretty brownish fur, more beige on their abdomens. The abdomens on two of them had a strange fold, which neither Ken nor Janae could identify. Each animal had a long, rather pointed nose, or snout, with large brown colored eyes, and upright ears which were nearly comically tall. Each animal was clearly dead. Wounds from the birds were on their necks, faces and heads. The now-glazed eyes stared at nothing. Blood marked each of the drag trails, but was also pooling in a depression in the sands. The neck of each animal had been sliced open, so the blood flowed down and away from the body. Lollard was compressing the chest of one body with his foot doing rhythmic movements which facilitated the bleeding out of the dead body.
Each of the eagles was sitting on the top of different
spiked trees, carefully observing all that was happening. Their heads turned as Janae and Ken approached, and their eyes glared intensely.
“My guests, it is such a good day. The bus will arrive shortly, and I have told the driver we will have supplies. Do you care for a sampling now, or should I reserve your portion for later?”
Janae’s eyes were even more intense than those of the raptors, but she said nothing. Ken spoke, “We are unused to your methods, and customs. We just want to find out how to get to where our equipment and supplies are.”
Lollard’s countenance fell, and he quit compressing the dead animal. He carefully stood up and said, “I see that somehow I have offered offense to you. Please forgive me. I do not understand, but obviously you are both distressed. I should perhaps have not done my falconry while we waited for the bus? Nonetheless, what acts of contrition may I do to re-establish our relationship?”
“Are you seriously going to take us somewhere to help us?” Janae spat out. “I have been lied to, deceived, and coerced before, and I will not stand for it again.” Her hand rested on the holstered revenger.
“Nor should you. No person seeks to be a victim, and those who transgressed against you should be ashamed. It grieves my heart to hear that people did those atrocities to you,” Lollard answered, “I see you keep eyeing the dead roos, and I wonder, do you want to do the dressing and preparation of the meats?”
“You are not torturing those animals for sport?” Ken asked, surprise crossing his face. “This was not some religious service, or some game to you?”
“My religion is to serve the Sacrificed One, and falconry is my trade. I am gathering food for myself and my family, just as my father and mother did. I would not torture a jack or jill, and especially not a joey. My raptors are instructed not to take jills with joeys, but it has happened. These three, the jack and two jills, I killed them humanely and quickly. Yes, my raptors take them down, but had you not been here, I would only have taken one, for my family. I had the raptors take three, two as my gifts to you, but I see I was mistaken. I apologize. I did not understand what you needed.” He looked at the bodies, and shrugged sadly.
“Oh, just do whatever you have to do with those dead things,” Janae snapped out. “I have seen worse, I suppose, back with the walrus and bruins. I just do not like it.” She turned away.
“You make food from them?” Ken asked, some comprehension dawning on him. “What do you need to do now?”
“Yes. The bus will arrive shortly, but I do ask your pardon and forgiveness, for my hubris and lack of discernment of your needs. I will finish here.”
“Please, just explain,” Ken added, when Lollard turned away.
“Alright then. In the bluntest of terms, what is required now is that the bodies must be dressed properly, the blood let, the organs removed. Therefore, everything from the mouth to the arse, comes out. Intestines and other internal organs are high in bacteria. That necessitates removal promptly, in order to avoid contaminating the meat. Each carcass must start to cool as soon as bleeding out is done. Otherwise, there is higher risk of diminishing the meat quality. I wanted the best portions for you, and Janae. I again offer my apologies, and ask your forgiveness. I can see in your eyes that something is wrong, and I feel in my heart, I have offended you. I am truly sorry.”
“Finish your tasks, and we will await this bus thing that is coming,” Ken said. He felt the dilemma, as Lollard was sincerely remorseful, and yet, Ken related to Janae on the bizarreness of what Lollard and the birds had done. It reminded Ken too much of the screaming crowds when the bull killed the tant. Those images haunted his mind.
A faint whining noise came from the distance, and a dust cloud appeared over one of the arroyos. Both Ken and Janae pulled their hoods and masks on as a reflex. They then checked their RAM suits, but both suits showed that there was no elevation in radiation levels. A white vehicle emerged from between the rocky buttes and the dust was coming off the sand which was being blown around as it hovered on a cushion of air and moved toward them.
“That will be Paige, and the bus,” Lollard stated, “I asked her to hasten her arrival here. Otherwise, she would not be stirring up the ground like she is doing.”
The white vehicle was riding about a quarter of a meter off the ground. It consisted of a horizontal deck, about a meter high, two and one-half meters wide, and four meters long, with a clear permalloy cabin above that. The cabin had vertical sides about a meter tall, and the ceiling was clear permalloy as well. Three bench-style seats were visible inside that rounded-cornered, but boxy cabin. It did remind Janae of an overly large, transparent automacube, sans the drive wheels. Directly behind that cabin, was a v-shaped wing, and two circular fan housings. Someone was seated in the middle of the front bench.
The bus pulled up near to Lollard, and the whine diminished in pitch until it was nearly gone. Slowing down to a stop, the vehicle then settled onto the sand. A door lifted upward, exposing the entire side of the cabin, the seats inside were a creamy-tan color, which did not alleviate Janae’s or Ken’s stress about possible radiation, but as they checked their RAM suits, yet again, they did reluctantly remove their hoods and masks.
“Hail, and greeting Lollard,” the person called. She had a short hair style, with her smooth, brown hair hanging straight to her ear-line, but bluntly cut off at that point, with full bangs down to her eyebrows. As she stepped from the bus, her hair, even though short, flipped about, giving her a tousled look. She was wearing a tight-fitting shirt and pants, which accentuated her curvy figure, and ankle high boots. Her clothing was manufactured, and completely different from what Lollard was wearing.
“Paige, it was very nice of you to come and assist,” Lollard said.
“Happy to be of service. Lollard, your lungi is slipping in the back,” Paige stated, as she looked them over. Her smile was attractive with pouty lips, and upturned ends.
“Oh, it must have been in the pursuit,” Lollard said, and fixed the cloth which made up his hat—the lungi.
“Your falconry did well, I see, especially well,” Paige’s face then clouded a bit—seeing the reactive expression on Lollard’s face—and so, smile gone, she looked carefully at Ken and Janae. “I too welcome you both here. You are not our usual sibling visitors, and as Lollard informed me, you have endured a trial in a shuttle crash. Dreadful news that. Is there some other difficulty I can assist in alleviating?” Her brown eyes peered out under her bangs, and held no trace of animosity, but were a mixture of curiosity and puzzlement.
“We need to get back to the Ida habitat, well, the shell area around that biome. Our equipment is there, and we have a ship that we need to repair,” Janae said. “Lollard said you could take us to some people who would help?”
“Indeed, that I will do. Johannes, Valentinus, and Andreae have been contacted and they will welcome you at the center in Waldensia,” Paige replied. She looked at Lollard.
He shook his head, “I am not coming, but I would ask that you deliver two parcels of fresh meat, wherever you think they would do the most good,” Lollard turned back to the dead roos. “I will be a few moments as I pack them up.”
“Are those not for our guests, these new friends?” Paige nodded toward the carcasses. “Those are prime and choice selections. Your raptors did very well.”
Lollard shook his head and lowered his voice, “I offended the gifts to these guests, but that was not desired. Therefore, I will just finish with the dressing and preparation, then take my leave.”
Paige was again puzzled and just said, “As you wish. May I assist you?”
Lollard looked at Ken and Janae. He then spoke a question, “It will be a terrible waste if this food spoils, and I cannot carry three by myself. Paige could assist me, and you could be on your journey more quickly, but I do not wish to offend.”
“Just be done,” Janae began, but Ken cut her off.
“We do not wish to offend either, so, please, do as you two wish with the bodies of the
animals, and we will just wait to leave until that is finished. I too feel badly, if we have done something to offend you, or your traditions,” Ken spoke carefully, treading lightly with his words. “Your ways are not our ways, but that does not make them wrong or incorrect. They are just new to us. I suppose, we both made mistakes.”
Paige pulled out a small tool kit from beneath the rear wing of the vehicle. She walked over and assisted Lollard in what he had been doing with the bodies. Before long, two parcels were packed into chests at the rear of the vehicle.
“They are in preservation now, and I will see they get to needy people. Your gifts will be appreciated by the recipients,” Paige stated, as she closed down the chests. “I must ask if you want recognition?” This last question sounded formal and liturgical.
“Knowing the Sacrificed One sees all, this gift should remain anonymous,” Lollard replied in a recited manner. “The left hand need not know what the right hand has accomplished. One body feeds itself.” Lollard then carefully washed all his tools, and his hands. His garments were not soiled in any manner, yet the pool of blood in which the animals’ bodies had been drained was large, the sand a deep, nearly black, red color. Nearby sat the carefully folded skins of the animals, and some bones were in a pile next to that.
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