Vast Mantis

by Jim Henderson

  Throughout the day, they saw a fair number of labebears moving about and could make out some differences between them. One gender, the go-between, appeared distinctly different as it was quite a bit shorter and rounder then those it interacted with. It stayed near the water and never approached the others. However, it always seemed receptive if others approached it. When they got some footage of this from the motion-activated cameras, they noted that the other bears approaching these middlemen always brought an offering of food – what appeared to be fruit or meat. The crew wasn’t sure whether the other bears approaching were both of the other genders or just one. The other genders were much more similar from a distance.

  As they observed the bears, they had noted a fair number of a larger, six-legged creaturs that appeared to be herbivores, roaming around in small groups, as well as some smaller arboreal creatures.

  In mid-afternoon, Mantis sent indications of a 50-80% chance of rain or thunderstorms during the night. However, she wasn’t too sure of the probability, nor the likely severity. She didn’t have enough historical data on the wheather on this planet to go on.

  At camp they relaxed, and Silas informed them that he had to go down and set up a tree stand the next morning. He had to get a closer look. Io and Peter would go with him and stay in cover near the base.

  Ximon was a bit worried about splitting the party. “Are you sure that’s necessary? We might see everything we need from here tomorrow.”

  Silas shook his head. “I don’t think so. I suspect some of their movements and areas may be pretty set. Y’all can cover from here.”

  “Okay but wake me before y’all go.”

  It didn’t quite happen that way. The wind picked up around 2100 and the rain started at 2200. By midnight, it was raining hard with heavy wind. Rain beat on Ximon’s tent continuously and his hammock swayed regularly in the wind, sometimes pitching around like a ship at sea. Shao complained of water running into their tent. Around 0100 lightning and thunder started, flashing and booming in the distance. But around 0200 there was a series of lightning strikes on the hill that lit up the sky, followed by deafening thunder that sounded like small bombs going off.

  Ximon yelled, “We’ve got to get back to the ship! Just grab what you can, and we’ll get the rest tomorrow if we can.”

  Silas and Shao quickly grabbed their backpacks and weapons and sealed their tent shut. They all hurried back to the ship, getting very wet as they did so. By the time they got back in Mantis, Shao (who hadn’t packed any good rain gear) looked like a drowned rat, the makeup she wore streaking down her face, and was shivering with chill.

  Raiza and Elsbeth were waiting for them with towels and hot drinks. Silas said, “If things calm down tomorrw, I’ll just set some more motion cameras and sit in a tree stand.”

  Ximon nodded. “I can’t argue with that, but let’s plan over breakfast tomorrow. Shall we say 0700 to give the weather a chance to calm down?”

  “Okay. Sounds good.” He grabbed Shao’s shaking hand and led her toward the shower. “Come on, babe, let’s go get warm.”

  Ximon grabbed Raiza and headed for bed, talking to Mantis as he went. “Mantis, if you get any video from those motion-activated cameras, please collate it as best you can. We’ll review at breakfast.”

  “Yes, Captain. I apologize that I could not better predict the weather. I simply did not have enough historical data to create good projections.”

  “No worries. Just a bit of rain … and wind … and lightning.”

  At breakfast, Silas was already ready to leave. Shao was up, but still in sweats with no plan to go anywhere. Raiza had cooked a large breakfast of eggs, ham, bacon, fruit, and toast, with steaming mugs of coffee. Peter and Io sat nearby, but Elsbeth was conspicuously absent. Not that Ximon blamed her.

  Ximon spoke to Mantis, “What, if anything, did we get from those cameras?”

  “One camera went completely offline and two clearly fell from their mounts, so we got little of any use from those. However, but we did get some from the others.”

  She displayed a series of images and some video from the cameras during the day and night. “As you noted, there’s one type of labebear that is shorter and rounder than the others. You referred to it as ‘the go-between.’ It seems to stay in a limited area and wait for others to visit, typically with food. During the day, several other labebears visited these go-betweens. That continued during the night except at the height of the storm. The encounters appear similar. The labebears visiting at night appear slightly different from the ones visiting during the day, but that could just be random distribution between individuals. But it would appear the go-betweens are cathemeral – active at sporadic times during day and night. Hopefully, we can get more imagery tomorrow and observations from Silas that help us differentiate the genders.”

  Silas watched the screen intently. “I’ll emplace several more cameras and see if I can recover the ones we lost. I’ll also specifically watch for the other gender or for interactions with the middlemen to see if I can differentiate the others. I’d like to discuss this in mid-afternoon. If we don’t have it by then, I plan to tranq one. I’m hoping we can bring it back here and Raiza can figure something out.”

  Ximon had to concur. “That sounds reasonable. Who do you want to take with you?”

  “I’ll travel lighter if it’s just me and Io, but I’ll send you my coordinates. If folks could take turns up on the cliff with a rifle, I’d appreciate the backup.”

  “Okay. I’ll take Peter, Raiza, and Euclidia to gather the rest of the camp gear. Shao get some more sleep. After that, you, me, Peter, and Elsbeth will take turns providing top cover.”

  “Great. Thanks for breakfast Raiza.” Silas bent and kissed Shao on the top of the head. “See you later, babe.”

  Silas got quite a few more cameras online and Mantis collected data throughout the day, which she, Euclidia, and Raiza helped sift through. Unfortunately, by mid-afternoon all they were sure of was the middlemen and that some other gender visited them.

  Silas said, “Okay, I’m going to bag one as near the hill leading down from the cliff as I can. I’ll need a hand bringing it back, so could you have Peter and Euclidia head toward these coordinates?”

  Ximon was surprised when Elsbeth spoke up. “Sure, and I’ll go along for ‘adult supervision.’ Need to make sure the boys don’t get lost, eh?”

  She then got a very mischievous grin and continued, “And we know there are horny bears out there.”

  After that, they heard periodic radio updates as Silas stalked. After a short while he said, “Okay, got one. He’s down but appears okay. Where y’all at?”

  Elsbeth looked at her tablet and answered, “Heading toward you, should be five minutes or less.”

  They got the creature safely back to Mantis and, after strapping it down, Raiza started studying it with Peter’s help. She measured it, took images, x-rays, internal scans, and blood. She paid careful attention to what might be called its genitalia and tried to ascertain gender from its apparent operation. She kept the bear sedated and monitored it carefully as she worked.

  While she did so, Elsbeth and Ximon worked on setting up an area in the cargo bay. The main area was a small cargo area off the main hold, but they put some empty cargo containers outside the room and sort of fenced an area off.

  An hour later they gathered in the galley and Raiza presented her findings. She displayed pictures and x-rays on the screens.

  “As you’ve seen, the Labebears are six-legged, furred creatures that can walk on two, four, or six legs. We’ve seen height variance from approximately 100 to 150 centimeters. This one is 135 centimeters and 90 kilograms. Fur is predominately an auburn color and you’ll notice this one has a pronounced build-up of hair around the neck – a mane of sorts. This one was noted visiting a go-between bear at least once. Their genders are obviously different, but my study and samples suggest he’s the equivalent of a male. I believe he copulates with the go-between an
d leaves genetic material. However, if there are three genders, that third gender must also deposit genetic material in the go-between or retrieve if from them. I assume some of the others that visit the go-between are that other gender.”

  Silas cut in, “But they all look the same.”

  “Definitely similar and it’s hard to judge, but I believe there’s a difference between the ones that visit during the day and the ones at night. That could just be individual differences, but the night ones appear to lack this mane, look slightly slimmer, and have thinner snouts. I can’t be sure, but I suggest we try to capture a night one so we can investigate.”

  “Well, we need three anyway. I’ll get one tonight, but I’ll need backup in the area.”

  Silas, Ximon, Shao, Peter, and Io went back out just before nightfall. When they reached the plain below the cliff, Silas went forward while the others stayed back. They stood in dense brush, watching in Silas’s direction and monitoring feeds on their tablets.

  They soon heard Silas talking as he tracked something. Shortly thereafter he reported, “Got one. Not sure if it’s the same or not. Come on down.”

  They started moving in his direction and made considerable noise stepping on dry branches and twigs. Suddenly there was a snort in the bushes to their left, then some combination of a squeal and a roar, and bushes breaking.

  Several of the large herbivores came rushing through the brush in a dense mob, snorting in apparent panic. The mob collided with the crew violently. Peter was knocked off his feet and run over. Ximon was rammed hard in the ribs by a creature on the edge of the group that then squealed and veered off. He let out a large gasp as all the air left him. Shao was slammed into a tree and let out a loud cry of pain. Ximon didn’t see Io but thought he might have heard one bounce off him.

  Ximon heard the radio hiss as Silas asked, “What the hell is going on back there?”

  Ximon was just recovering his breath and looking about. He answered with a groan, “Bit of a stampede. We’ll be a minute.”

  The creatures ran off noisily into the night. The group gathered, got out lights and surveyed. Ximon’s ribs hurt badly. Shao was moaning softly and holding an arm that Peter felt might be broken, as well as favoring one leg. Peter was generally okay but had the equivalent of cuts and bruises on his artificial skin. Io was dented on one side.

  Ximon called Elsbeth. “We’ve had a bit of a run-in. I think we’re going to need medical attention. Can you, Raiza, and Euclidia meet us at these coordinates?”

  “Sure, we saw a bit of that mob running by one of the cameras. We wondered what was going on down there. Give us about 15 minutes.”

  Ximon had Peter go ahead to Silas to help bring back the tranq’d labebear, while he tried to calm Shao and watch for other crazed beasts.

  When Raiza arrived, she quickly treated Shao and put her arm in a splint. She looked briefly at Ximon but decided she’d examine him back at the ship. By the time she was done, Silas and Peter had returned. Peter blithely carried the bear back to the ship while Silas and Ximon helped Shao.

  At the ship, Raiza gave more complete medical attention to Shao. She did, indeed, have a broken wrist and a badly sprained ankle. Raiza also checked Ximon. He had a couple of bruised ribs. She could check Peter’s damage later.

  Then Raiza studied the new labebear, presenting her findings like a short lecture.

  “This one is 120 centimeters and 80 kilograms. Fur is predominately a light tan color and you’ll notice this one has no mane. Its snout is also considerably narrower. This one was noted visiting a go-between bear at least once. I believe this one is the equivalent of a female. She has a birth canal and a pouch with something like mammary glands inside, thus they’re marsupials. She does something that looks like copulation with the go-between, but it’s to retrieve genetic material from the go-between. This one is also currently pregnant – I see three unborn young inside her.”

  Shao said, “Should we release her and let her have her babies in peace?”

  “I understand the sentiment, but we need a breeding trio and there are few better guarantees of fertility than being pregnant. I think it’s logical to keep her.”

  Ximon had to think about that. “I guess I agree. Assuming you’re right with all of this, now we just need us a go-between.”

  Silas shrugged, “I can get one in the morning. Shouldn’t be hard as they don’t move around too much. I’ll need help hauling her though.”

  “Sure, we’ll send several and watch for stampedes.”

  After some good rest, Peter, Io, and Euclidia accompanied Silas and quite soon returned with a go-between. Raiza examined her and confirmed what she had found with the others. “We have a trio that should be fertile.”

  Elsbeth said, “Great, a horde of bears. Are we good to go then?”

  Raiza shook her head slowly and pointed toward the bear enclosure. “No, Elsbeth. We cannot. We need to gather some wood, leaves, and preferably other food from this planet for our guests.”

  Elsbeth groaned, but Ximon said, “Not to worry. Since we’re not worried about scaring them anymore, we can just land right next to the woods and quickly gather some stuff.”

  That worked surprisingly well and Raiza made sure her patients were well settled in. She studied them diligently for the rest of their trip and made careful observations, while the rest of the crew just found them cute. They were quite docile and mainly kept to themselves, except they kept mating. A few weeks later Raiza noted that the female now had more unborn young inside her.

  “An interesting evolutionary adaptation. They keep mating even while pregnant and can apparently bear young from multiple parent combos. Being marsupials probably makes that easier since the young can be born smaller and still be protected in a parental pouch.”

  Mantis headed for a jump point shortly thereafter. They had dinner in the galley, and Ximon discussed plans. “Okay, we’re done here. Now, we have the final task – getting the settlers off Kaqarbius. I’m still a bit unsure how to tackle that so everyone be thinking of ideas. Hopefully we’ll have something reasonable before we get there.”

  Chapter Ten: Kaqarbius

  They bounced around multiple ideas for getting rid of the Kaqarbius settlers during jump, but also spent a lot of time watching the labebears cavorting. They were quite cute and very docile. They still rarely interacted with one another except for mating.

  A few days into jump Ximon convened a meeting. “Okay, we’re just a few days from Kaqarbius. I’d like to hear some ideas on how to approach this.”

  Silas said, “I’m not suggesting this, but we could always go in shooting. That’d get them moving.”

  Ximon looked a bit shocked. “We’re not doing that, certainly not as our first plan, but we do need to do something to get them to go.”

  Elsbeth cleared her throat. “I’ve been thinking about this. We’re most likely going to tell them that asteroids are going to fall on them and kill them all. Why don’t we give them a taste of that? We could grab several moderate sized asteroids and nudge them toward the planet, then show up after they hit.”

  Shao didn’t seem to like this. “So, our plan is to meteor bomb them to avoid them being meteor bombed!?”

  “Sort of, but we’d use fairly small asteroids and we should be able to aim them somewhat to avoid their settlement. They would know that the planet had been hit and would feel some effects, but not get killed. I think that’s a pretty good deal for them.”

  Ximon put up his hands to quell dissent. “I think that idea has some merit. Then, when we land and tell them something a lot bigger is inbound, they’re more likely to believe it.”

  Mantis cut in, “Captain, I must advise you that this concept is probably impractical in the timeframe that I believe you would wish to allot. It would take 21 to 27 days of nearly sustained thrust for Mantis to modify the trajectory of an asteroid of sufficient size to make a significant impact that could be detected at range. Further, it would take approximately four
months for the asteroid to actually reach the planet and additional course corrections by Mantis would almost certainly be necessary to ensure the meteor actually strikes the planet.”

  Elsbeth looked a tad embarrassed. “Oh! Well, what about small ones then? We could gather some with a net like miners sometimes do.”

  “That could be viable. We could use a mining net to capture several small asteroids and then release them toward the planet when we flip to burn near the planet. However, it’s unclear how noticeable those would be to the inhabitants unless they hit relatively close, which would be extremely difficult to ensure.”

  Silas nodded vigorously. “Not great, but if you don’t like my option, this may be the best way to go.”

  Shao said, “It’s better than them getting destroyed and us punished, but I’m not sure they’ll go. Or, what we do if only some of them go?”

  Ximon shook his head, “That I don’t know. I guess we could tranq them all and drag them off.”

  Silas and Elsbeth laughed.

  Raiza said, “Ximon, I assume you’re not being serious. Are you?”

  “No, love. But we might honestly have to consider something of the sort to save lives.” He paused for a minute. “Any other thoughts?”

  After a few minutes of general shrugging and headshaking, Ximon said, “Well, I hope we come up with something better. But, Elsbeth, you, Mantis, and Euclidia work out some estimates on how it would work to push or pull some small rocks their way.”

  When they came out of jump a couple days later, they had decided to try the small asteroids. They headed toward the system’s main asteroid belt and started scanning for groups of small asteroids to use. However, Shao and Mantis almost simultaneously noted something that changed that.

  Shao spoke up, “Ximon, I’m detecting several large asteroids out of primary orbit of the asteroid belt. I’m counting four. Mantis, can you compute the trajectories?”