“I'm wondering if this is like orca killing a shark. We may have disturbed the eco system a bit,” Nate observed. He turned to where the herd was getting bloody and muddy from the carcass. They seemed to take positive enjoyment in it.
“I'd think they are getting their own back but they aren't. Usually blood repels herbivores. Are they marking themselves with the scent of the dead body to drive the predators away?” Mary asked cautiously.
“If that is so, did they learn it? And that would mean we didn't disturb the ecosystem,” Nate said, sounding relieved.
~~~^~~~
Nate, Mary, and the others watched as a group of rusticus drove alien animals into a field. The animals were apparently unwanted, the locals considered them pests. They looked like a cross between a giraffe and a toucan.
The team continued to watch, confused until they saw the animals falter and then stumble and fall halfway into the field. Nate broke out his binoculars, expecting some sort of quagmire or trap.
Instead he saw things rippling in the fields. Things like vines. He also saw skeletons and a skull of what he assumed was a juvenile Titan.
“Mother of god,” he murmured until Mary took the binoculars from him. “Yes, indeed,” he said coughing into his hand. “I believe this is more your field than mine,” he said.
She stared, trying to gauge how large it was. From the look of it and from where the natives stopped, it was an entire field. “Most likely some sort of hive plant. Quite possible a group but it could stem from one root,” she murmured.
They took a team to join the natives a short time later. Nate arranged for her to use poles and cutting tools to take samples. The vines were quick to wrap around the poles. They lost a branch when it was ripped out of their hands.
Once they had a sample, the botany team went to work examining it. At dinner that evening, they gave their tentative findings.
The vines had poison thorns as well as buds. The buds had seeds that could be embedded in a passing animal.
“I'd hate to get a hot foot from them,” Nate observed with a shake of his head.
“According to the locals, the flowers can emit a sophoric gas that can stun people and prey. We have no proof of that though,” Mary warned. “We did confirm that there are two kinds of vines, the constrictors with the poison and then others.” She showed them a second sample that had nasty long thorns. “These are hollow; they are hypodermic thorns that when the vine wraps around the prey and tighten are embedded into the skin until they penetrate the epidermis. From there, they can draw out nutrients out of the prey. Quite ingenious really,” she said.
“And nasty,” Nate replied. He'd listened to the natives. They tended to burn the plants. This one had lasted for so long because someone had learned to get samples of the flowers with the gas to use in dental surgery and potions. And it was useful to get rid of pesky animals.
"Turnabout is fair play here, though I don't have to like it," he said with a shake of his head. “No picnicking here,” he said.
Mary shuddered.
“I agree. And I suggest we get out of here.”
He frowned and looked at her.
“I talked to a couple of people. They said that even though it is getting cold and the plants are getting dormant, and that they just fed, it doesn't mean the area is safe. These things are insidious. They can creep into our camp. There are stories of them killing people who camp near.”
Several of their team nodded gravely.
Nate sighed. “Okay, you talked me into it. I couldn't sleep with those things near anyway. Let's get out of here."
~~~^~~~
“You know we're going to get scolded for not returning by the session,” Mary warned the following morning over breakfast.
Nate snorted. “Hell if I wanted to be mixed up in that,” he grumbled. They did need to head back though; they were low on supplies and heavy on samples. A lot of people were tired.
“Well, according to my last radio check-in, we missed a hell of a party,” Sue said with a shake of her head.
“Oh. Darn,” Nate said looking at some of the students. “Well, we're on our way back now.”
Mary nodded.
“What other news is there?” Nate asked, cocking his head.
“Well, in national news,” Mary pursed her lips briefly in humor at playing news anchor. “Duluth is still having issues with politics, but they too had a good session and party.”
“Ah,” Nate said with a nod.
“It looks like the tech exchange and seeding made the difference. We won't know until the winter is over of course, but the harvests were twice as good as they had ever been in the capital area.”
There was a murmur from the students and team over that news.
“So, homeward bound,” Mary said firmly. “The weather is turning; we've had repeated questions about returning. And we are going home,” she said firmly.
She had tried to keep in touch with her people as the harvests had gotten under way. The corn had gone well, so had many of the tub experiments. The radio reports sounded promising; yields had been up by half.
They had to grow a lot of food since the winters were four hundred days long. She had no idea how the first people had survived that long. She also understood how hard it was to keep on top of things. They stored food in any way they could and had taken to the Terran's introduction to canning and jars like ducks to water.
It certainly beat using jars and sand.
Her first winter had not been pleasant. Near the end, despite staggered growth to have a constant harvest and pushing the season, they'd had issues. Individuals grew for survival, then for tribute and a surplus to sell or barter.
Food near the end of the long winter season was scarce and nasty, mostly stews. Fresh meat was highly prized. She had heard plenty of stories where people had been caught out by a longer winter than expected and had been forced to eat their seed in order to survive.
She was hoping to prevent that in the future.
"Yeah," Nate sighed, bringing her back to the present. "It's just as well; the weather is turning. Guess we need to go home, tally up our notes and then help out with real work."
Mary eyed him suspiciously. "While planning our next expedition?" she asked slyly.
"But of course!" he said with a grin. There were groans from the group. Mary and Nate shared a laugh over that.
~~~^~~~
Nate checked the milarium , a mile marker obelisk near the side of the road. They had a ways to go before they would be in Kent XI. There was another mile marker, this one far larger in the distance. It was leaning though; some had said that an animal had rubbed it the wrong way. He was curious if he could get any samples off of it.
The sides of the road were remarkably clear of foliage. He'd found out it wasn't just to protect the road but also the travelers who used it from possible ambush sites. He appreciated that and whoever had to go out and keep the road sections clear.
They hadn't gotten everywhere they'd liked. Some of the roads had turned out to be private; they had to pay a toll to travel them. They had been built to Roman standard, but he hadn't trusted a few that went into the hills. Some looked as if they went straight up the hills, and he had no intention of putting that sort of burden on the poor draft beasts.
Well, according to the mile marker, they had a ways to go before they were on one of the Imperium roads. From there they would move far swiftly to the capital.
He looked over to the mountains in time to see something massive flying across a field. He managed to get his camera out in time to film the giant bird thing as it circled and then dove on a startled herd of cattle.
It landed hard on one of the bawling animals, crushing it under its weight. It shifted about, then bent to peck at its prey with a giant beak to make sure it was dead and then began to flap. He stared, open mouthed in awe as the thing picked the cow up and flew off in the general direction of the mountains.
“Damn,” he murmured as Mar
y and the others came out from their hiding spots to see it. “Well! I'd say I've seen everything, but I know that's not true. But that just whet my appetite for more!”
He looked at his students, but they just shook their heads. Even Mary did so.
“Huh. Guess it's just me then,” he said, looking back to the distant dot as it disappeared over the horizon.
~~~^~~~
Capital
Eugene noted the last convoy from Duluth's arrival. It was trundling through the city; he'd picked up on it from the morning report.
He was curious about what Zara had managed to do to improve things as far as merchandise was concerned. He decided to check it out if he had time.
He looked over to Deidra and noted she was in one of her moods. Come to think of it, maybe it would be a good idea to get out of her hair and reach for a little bit.
Safer too, in the short term at least.
~~~^~~~
“Eeeugeeene!” Deidra called, noting her husband's figure as he made his way across the courtyard with Max.
Eugene was halfway across the courtyard but winced visibly. Max looked over to him. “I swear she does that on purpose,” he muttered.
Max chuckled.
“Get back here!” Deidra called out, then growled when Eugene just shot her a grin and picked up the pace away from her.
“He's earning his whoopin,” Sue muttered.
“Oh, he's earned it all right,” Deidra said darkly. Charlie started giggling. She turned to the girl and then blushed, remembering a conversation some time ago.
“Oh, shut up,” she muttered, feeling her ears heat. That just made Sue chuckle along with Charlie.
“Terrans. Can't live with them, can't shoot them,” Deidra said with a weary shake of her head. But she looked up with a twinkle as her friends giggled. “Don't worry; I happen to know where he sleeps.”
That earned another giggle.
“Well, if you two are sorted out, let's look into this medicus journal you are working on,” she said with a nod to Sue. “And I believe you want to add some recipes on how to make some of the chemical potions? But you aren't sure about the translations?” she asked, turning to Charlie.
Both women nodded.
Sue had been working on medicus journals for some time, but she was always too busy to get them into print. She had finally settled on a basic journal and build off of that success, with specialist publications that would come later. Copies were to be printed and sent around the Imperium as well as to Duluth. “And of course I have to pay for this out of the purse?” Deidra asked with a sigh.
The two Terran women looked at each other.
“I tell you what, I'll pay for the first edition. After that you have to get others to support it.”
“Um … how?” Sue asked cautiously.
Charlie snorted. Sue looked to her. “What?”
“You aren't going to like it.”
“Um …?”
“I was going to say charge for it myself,” the queen said, crossing her arms as she looked at Charlie. Sue had a stubborn look of refusal written all over her face. “But you don't want to do that because you want to get it into as many hands as possible. I understand that. We should have put that into the budget but we didn't. So, what do you have in mind?” she asked, looking at Charlie. “You have an alternative I suppose?”
Charlie nodded. “Simple,” she turned to Sue. “Ad revenue.”
Sue grimaced.
“I don't understand.”
“We sell copy space in the journal to people who wish to advertise their potions or wears.”
“Wart remover,” Sue muttered.
“Or a vendor making forceps or stethoscopes,” Charlie offered casually. “It does several things. One, it helps to pay for the costs or at least defer them.”
Sue nodded reluctantly.
“Two,” Charlie held up two fingers. “It gives those who read the journal a place to put orders for things they want. Like the old magazine order system. A catalog.”
Sue nodded, looking a little more enthused.
“You can have someone keep an eye on quality and what they promise in the ad. Third, it will encourage others to invest in medicine and medical potions and devices or an education,” Charlie said, one hand up in supplication.
“All right, you talked me into it. As long as they don't get carried away,” Sue grumbled.
Deidra nodded. “Glad that's solved for the moment. Now, let's get out of here and some place warmer so we can talk about what else you had in mind …”
~~~^~~~
Once the meeting was finished, Sue realized she just didn't have the time to run the publication. She put the word out that they needed someone to run it. The queen, Charlie, and she would sit on the board and own it, but someone else would have to run it as a business.
She got some inquiries from merchants but no students. She finally realized that was fine; she'd look for someone appropriate in the printing industry and or the college over the long winter.
~~~^~~~
Deidra checked out the greenhouses. There were rows of them, made from clear plastic as well as glass. The clear plastic ones were being shut down; Charlie was certain they wouldn't hold up with the coming snowstorms.
The glass ones had a peak made out of ironwood and had a very high-pitched roof to help shed the snow. She hoped they would hold up; they'd been a large investment. She also hoped that the plants growing within survived. The flowers were quite beautiful, but so were the rows of vegetables. Having fresh vegetables from time to time during the long hiems period would be a welcome addition to the table.
~~~^~~~
Cecily received a report of a protest from the road crews. She rode out to it and found a group of angry families blocking further construction. They wanted the utilities but hadn't realized that the utilities would be underground.
She placed her hard hat and vest on. The colored vest told others she was a worker and made sure that she could be easily seen. She understood that it was like the helmet, a safety tool. It didn't do much to protect her other than for others to see her clearly.
She frowned and checked the pit where the road crew had run into the problem; three of the families had dug a private crypt under their homes and under the street. She checked the map with the supervisor.
“Well, that's a problem,” she said with a shake of her head. There was no way around the crypt; it was under most of the road. She turned to one of the family elders. “You do realize you went beyond your land's limit?” she indicated the street. “This is public land.”
He scowled. “What would you have us do?”
“Dig down for one or find another location,” Cecily stated.
He lifted his chin. “Tis not for you to decide. We have appealed to the berger,” he said snidely. “He is bringing a writ. We paid a great deal for it.”
“Great, city hall,” Cecily said as the mayor came at a trot waving a scroll. “More problems.”
The mayor had indeed filed a stop work order. They hashed some of it out in the street. The wind was cold though, so they were all eager to get the matter settled. They finally had to agree to stopping construction at that point and resealing the crypt.
“You can start on the other side,” the berger replied with a shrug.
“That won't work,” Cecily explained patiently. “We have to run lines through the earth. You can't just stop them here and start again on the other side.”
The mayor blinked at her. “I never heard of such a thing!”
“Well, now you have,” the woman said firmly. “Water and electricity must flow through the pipes. If a pipe stops, it can't get to the other side of the crypt,” she pointed.
The berger took his hat off and scratched at his head as he thought through the problem. “Look, we can stop work here, but it means everyone downstream won't have service. And some of the people upstream won't either since the sewer line hasn't been tied in,” Cecily said, snapping
her fingers to the site supervisor. He came over hastily with a map. She pointed to the homes that would not get power or utilities. All were high-end homes in the neighborhood.
“This is wrong,” the berger stated.
“Well, you can tell those families that we can't provide them with services because of your friends,” she said, indicating the three stubborn families. “They have encroached on public land and now you have filed an order to protect them. Tomorrow this work crew will work in a different area. We may not get back to this job until sometime next year depending on the court,” she stated with a shrug.
Hostage Rescue (Princess Rescue Inc Book 2) Page 41