Aurona, page 36
“It’s permanent?” Tola was incredulous. “But why a helmet, of all things?”
She smiled, glancing at the round man. “In theory, this large metallic skull plate should both reflect and short out the Razah’s forward-thrown mind-stun.” She explained. “In effect, they’d be giving themselves a zap of their own medicine!”
Her plan bordered on the preposterous, yet smacked of boldness and innovative daring. Still, the very idea of Razahs running around with gold helmets on their heads brought out a contagion of backhanded smirks.
She raised her voice confidently. “Come on, honestly. Think about it,” she chided. “After a few self-inflicted knockout drops, the Razahs should learn very quickly not to use their mind-stuns!”
She’d finally captured their imaginations: the more her radical plan unfolded, the more plausible it sounded. The initial shock and resistance was quickly evaporating in the face of flawless logic. They started to nod in studied agreement.
Sensing the shift in mood, she continued, greatly encouraged. “Look. Over the centuries, these big cats have gotten just plain fat and lazy, using this easy method of bringing down prey! Now, like it or not, they’ll have to completely relearn the forgotten art of stealth!”
Kron chimed in helpfully. “And Elena’s even got a ‘Step Two’ to her plan, guys. I think it’ll be a lot easier than the surgical part.”
“More? There’s more? What else could there be?” Tola asked.
“Since you asked, oh small round one, we’re implanting a PIL transmitter.”
He grimaced. “Yikes. You mean like, ah … down the hatch?”
“Yup,” Kron laughed. “And I hereby delegate you to push it down his throat!”
The tension finally broke. As the small group laughed, Elena explained. “After the Razahs receive their specially modified PILs, all of us should be able to monitor them and follow their movements, learning their habits. It’s important to know where they are at all times, day or night. Why, we’ll eventually be able to run a continuous living census, if you will!”
“In other words,” Tola concluded, “we’ll be ‘tying the bell on the cat’s tail’?”
Adam let out a hoot. “Bingo! But, on the other hand…,” he suddenly paused, his voice faltering, “they’ll really gonna hate us for that.” He ended quietly, his voice choking off. With a chill, he exchanged startled, knowing glances with Elena.
Her eyes grew round and she turned away quickly. Had they just stumbled on something far larger in scope than they could ever dream? They shuddered at their unexpected, rekindled memories: the big cat had pointedly, furiously stared at them from millions of miles in space.
Adam finally found his voice. “Um, Elena’s right,” he continued, trying to sound controlled. “The Razahs should be, in effect, telepathically neutralized once they get their helmets, right?”
As the two purposely avoided each other’s eyes, Elena took a deep breath and embellished his thought. “Yes!” she cut in. “Think of it, everyone: telepathically neutralized! Let’s take it even further! For their young ones, we’ll make small helmets with overlapping gold plates that spread out on their foreheads as they mature. Are you with me? Bandors, and therefore the Rasheen toxin, will no longer be a part of their diets! That means that over the years, the Rasheen will naturally filter out of their reproductive systems, resulting in only nonmutant, healthy offspring. This is a humane method and it should permit all the existing Razahs to live out their lives in the rainforests. They’d still be holding onto their role as the number one predators, but forced to teach their young the forgotten art of stealth!”
Someone applauded, then the rest quickly followed suit. They were finally with her wholeheartedly and began to gesture and talk excitedly.
Adam caught Elena’s attention, rolling his eyes. She shrugged discreetly, looking around. The group hadn’t picked up on their silent exchange.
Suddenly Elke moaned behind them, rubbing his head. “Ouch!” he mumbled. “I think I’ve got a brain cramp!”
As the group hooted, Adam slipped his arm around his wife’s small waist. “I think all our brains got cramped! It’s been like drinking from a fire hose around this gorgeous little fountain!” He rubbed his palms together. “So okay, now. Three things, in ascending order of importance: First, aside from a few bruised ribs and a badly winged brain, Elke’s fine. We’ve all leaned some valuable lessons tonight. Second…,” he paused, looking pointedly at his wrist programmer, “Duron will be here at precisely seven tomorrow morning to review our capture and release program.”
“Third….” As they waited expectantly, he winked and his brows rose silently. Elena blushed. No explanation was needed.
Adam was up at six. He’d lain awake for quite a while, itching to go down and study the Razah in the daylight. He slipped Elena’s arm off his chest and snuck out of bed, dressing quickly in the corridor.
As he entered the cargo hold, his flaring nostrils were instantly assailed by the strong, now-familiar rank odor. While the larger cat lay cold, stiff and scorched, the smaller one languished in a deep stupor. The beast was frightening, even grotesque: he had a huge, bulbous forehead, his fur was badly kept, and his rough cat tongue dangled loosely as he exhaled a terrible breath. Behind one ear there was a small, singed patch of fur, about the size of a fist.
A paw twitched. Taking no chances, Adam slid his Stifler from its holster. After a moment’s hesitation, he poked through the bars with the barrel of the gun and lifted a loose cheek, exposing the full set of great, curved ivory fangs.
“Whoeee! Man, look at those choppers!” he gasped. “Eighteen, twenty inches long?” Suddenly, they snapped together with a loud crunch. “Yike!” He grimaced. “This bad boy’s startin’ to come around! “
The door slid open behind him. Spooked, he slowly turned around. Elena was standing there, holding out a full syringe. “I watched you leave our room, and suddenly I remembered it was almost time for the sedative to wear off.” She pushed the needle toward him. “I just can’t. I’m too scared,” she shivered. “You do it.”
He slipped up behind the creature and quickly emptied a full slug of time-release serum into a muscular shoulder. The stripes jerked, quivered, then lay still.
She peered over the Razah’s head. “The respirator, Adam.” She smiled sweetly, holding it at arm’s length. “It goes down his throat.”
As he shoved it in, they heard a loud conversation in the hallway. The rest of the party was arriving, dragging the caged and drugged Spyrins from a cargo hold next door. They busied themselves jabbing long needles between the armor plates to sedate them for the day, and soon the small collection of creatures was safely out.
Duron entered the bay, looking around. “I must say, I am impressed! One night, Adam, and already your crew has caught four Spyrins and two Razahs?”
“It was easy, Duron. They, ah, came to us! You know, there’s something really odd about these Razahs. Cats are usually fastidious, right? These blimps have gotten fat and lazy and lax in their hygiene. They’re-they’re just plain slobs!”
“Slobs?” Duron was stumped. “Blimps? What is…?”
“Oh. Sorry. Slang again.”
“Your lexicon is astounding, Adam,” he mused. “There seems to be no end to your variation on a single theme.” He looked around with sudden purpose. “What I really came to tell you is that our production facilities are running at full capacity. In a few days you will have all the material you need for your new city.”
“Wow, thanks, Duron! You know, that watchtower we built yesterday is already generating cold air at an amazing rate! As soon as we install the baffles and recirculating membranes under the top rim, we should be able to cool off all the other buildings in….”
“So that’s it!” Elena interrupted. “A cooling tower! That’s why you shaped it like that: wide at the bottom and tapering to the top?”
Adam grinned. “Also, why it has so many open ‘doors’ around the bottom.”
Duron slit-smiled. “Yes, Adam, I like your tower very much! It has an elegant shape and the view from the top is quite wonderful!”
“Yeah! I can hardly wait to get cracking on the lab and holding pens!”
“Cracking…?” Duron winced, then turned to Elena. “The men have told me of your newest plan for the Razahs. It sounds like it could work, but…” He looked around, then bent low to their ears. “I am afraid there is something else I have to discuss with both of you. We really do not know what we are dealing with; there is another factor involved, a big one.” As they glanced at each other questioningly, he pulled them onto the loading dock, glancing nervously over his shoulder at the jungle.
“Listen,” he whispered. “The Razah has evolved into a creature far more complex than you realize. His phenomenal mind-stun is only one facet of a many-sided intelligence. He has become a sentient creature with powers more highly evolved than either you or I could ever imagine!”
“I, ah…,” Elena stuttered, fear creeping into her voice. She fought it, trying her best to sound composed. “I’m sorry, but I-I think we both need to confess something.” She turned to look at Adam pointedly.
He shrugged, motioning for her to continue. “You tell him, sweetpea.”
She took a deep breath. “Well, both Adam and I have already experienced this power, long before we landed on Aurona.”
“Before you landed?” Duron drew back, astonished. “How could that be?”
Adam filled him in, relating the unforgettable incident exactly as it happened. Elena clung tightly to his arm, watching the old one’s expression fall in rapid stages, first from wonder, then to alarm and fear.
He clutched his chest. “You said ‘nobody is the wiser,’ Adam? I am afraid you are in error! We have long suspected this creature to have psychic abilities, but not to the extent you have just described! Judging from what you have revealed, the Razah knew of your arrival and your intentions before you conceived this morning’s intricate plans for his containment in your minds! He could ‘see’ your plans for the gold helmets, the PIL signals to trace him, the….”
“No way!” Adam shook his head in disbelief. “Get outta here! You can’t be telling me that this ugly beast is clairvoyant!!”
The old one looked at them levelly. “Yes. Believe me, I have always thought it might be so, but now confirm it as fact. Listen. Other facets have begun to display themselves, too: We have seen that they can actually move objects with the physical waves of their mind-stuns; they ‘talk’ with others of their species over long distances; they can….”
Elena’s voice was quavering. “Y-you’re saying that Razahs have evolved into an intelligent species and they’re aware of their existence and their place in the order of things? Why, these helmets are going to stifle their potential, reducing them back to mere animals again!”
“As I said,” Adam grimaced, “they’re gonna hate us for that!”
The three stared at each other in shock, overcome by the wide-ranging implications.
Duron finally recovered his voice. “So,” he breathed, whispering solemnly, “let it be. Go ahead with your plan. Who knows how our own self-awareness came about? In any case, the Razah remains our prime enemy and so must suffer this dark period of transition to his former state. Let us go now.”
He turned purposefully toward the doorway and strode into the cargo bay, pausing to look at the sedated insects lying in a neat row. “Yes, yes,” he nodded quietly, lifting a stiff, hooked leg to examine it. “Again, Adam, I have changed my mind. Total elimination would be acceptable for these Spyrins. They are destroying too many very desirable species with their aggressive, and I must admit, very successful hunting techniques. Unfortunately, I cannot help you locate the caves. They were abandoned millenniums ago and have become completely overgrown.”
Adam contemplated a moment. “Well, how about this? We’ll follow them! We’ll get up early tomorrow morning, attach transmitters to these bad boys, and let ‘em go!”
“At dawn?” Duron stopped short, his eyes wide. “Why, that is an excellent time! They sleep during the day and should go straight back to their hive!”
“What?” Elena groaned. “You two can find more ways to get yourselves into….”
Adam held up a finger. “Duron isn’t going, hon. It’s just me and the boys. We’ll be okay, I promise! We’re just gonna follow ‘em back to their nest, cloaked and shielded on our antigrav sleds.”
“Are you sure that’s all?” She crossed her arms suspiciously.
“Well, I have been toying with another plan of attack once we’re there…. You know, kind of putting things together on the fly? I think it might work, but I need more input. Listen…,” he pulled them both closer, lowering his voice to a barely audible whisper.
Duron beamed. “All at once? A great idea!”
Elena tried to keep the anguish out of her voice. “Use your shields, Adam? Please? All the time? For me?”
“Done,” he vowed. “All the time. Now let’s get to work on these Razahs. Tomorrow’s another day. A big one.”
Chapter 20: SPYRINS
Looking like dark specks out in the middle of a crazy, swirling, spun-glass sea, Adam and nineteen of his most trusted men gathered in an excited knot. Although they were about a half-mile from the trunk of the Motherlode, they found it to be unexpectedly windy in the big circular clearing. Like the mighty engine driving a hurricane, the warm air rising inside the immense column of light was pulling strong breezes from the perimeter, flattening the grass into a spiral pattern. Dancing in the current, long, undulating ribbons of gold spiraled upward, the blizzard of flecks nearly blotting the tree from view.
Dawn approached. Washing away with the silken bloom of morning, the immense colonnade of light began to fade, the breeze died down, and the field soon lay cool and still. As the first rays of sunlight gilded the top of the Motherlode, a Dazzor bird chimed its bell tones from the rainforest
Tola raised a finger, counting down. In ten seconds, the column was totally gone. “There ya go, guys. Badda boom: sun’s up, light’s out, end of story.”
“Wow!” Peter breathed. “That’s all I can say.”
“And the sunlight controls it all,” Adam exclaimed. “That’s incredible. Let’s try to figure out the timing here. Aurona’s much bigger than the Earth, about a third larger.”
“And it turns much slower, too,” Kron added. “Duron did mention it was something in the order of thirty-two Earth-hours. That makes sixteen hours of daylight, right?”
Adam shrugged. “Eh, close enough for jazz. So let’s see: on top of that, there are three bonus hours of light in the morning and three more at night.”
Tola looked up. “Ah, that makes twenty-two hours … and?”
Kron brightened. “Remember what else Duron said? ‘We pamper our providers’? These Motherlodes have gotten twenty-two hours of sunlight for what, millions of years? Plus, they’ve roped the whole rainforest into their feeding frenzy!”
“Hey, that’s right!” Peter chimed in. “These big trees are gluttons and their root networks are covering the whole planet! No wonder they’re so colossal!”
Tola covered his ears. “Tilt! Tilt!” His voice had a robotic twang. “Information overload! Too many numbers! Words, I know; numbers, eh…,” he shrugged. He pointed at his newly calibrated wrist programmer. “And all this extra Aurona time is making my screen look cluttered. It’s just plain messy!”
Adam chuckled. “Well, no matter how you slice up the old dial, it’s almost five-thirty in the morning, Earth time. We’re leaving.” He checked out the equipment and then trotted back to the excited group. “Generators ready?”
They answered eagerly. “Check!
He went down the list. “Flexfoam pumps operational? Remote cage releases working? PIL transmitters activated?”
“Check. Check. Check!” They sprinted toward their SpeedSleds, answering on the fly. In moments, they were strapped in.
“Okay now, three things, on my signal: activate your cloaking devices, throw up your shields, and open the Spyrin cages! Got it?”
“Yes, sir!” they chorused.
He dropped his hand. “Now!”
The SpeedSleds disappeared like a mirage, the cage doors flew open, and the four raging Spyrins streaked out. Getting their bearings, they banked like a fighter squadron toward the dark rainforest, turning on their searchlights as they approached.
“Holy Pokemon, can they ever move!” Tola yelled. “Daylight’s a-comin’ an’ they wanna go home!”
Adam laughed. “Hey, Kron! Got four PIL signals showing on your screen?”
“Yes!” Kron yelled into the intercom. “And-and they’re already a half mile away!”
“Sick ‘em!” he pointed.
They flashed across the dewy field in hot pursuit, fourteen mysterious trails of slick, moving grass the only clue to their movement. As they approached the rainforest, Adam switched to Amplified Autopilot and lined up the sleds in close single file. Abruptly, they were in the thick of things, whipping sinuously through dense undergrowth, bobbing and weaving in a neck-snapping, tortuous trail. Homing in on the Spyrins’ PIL signals, the sleds took on a mind of their own; the only thing the group could do was to strap in, hunker down, and hold tight. Nose to tail with only inches of radar distance separating them, the speeding bullet train created a great vacuum-tunnel of wind in its wake.
A voice wailed over the intercom. “Owwwwch! Crud! W-what are we p-playing here, sir, c-crack the whip?”
Adam shouted above the roar. “Think about it, if w-we were trying to steer, we would’a lost ‘em in t-the first five seconds! Just t-thank the inventors for AAP!”
“What’d you say, s-sir? Can’t hear you!”
“Ooooch!” Adam rapped his elbow as the sleds snapped through a particularly tight turn. “Amplified Autopilot! J-just sit b-back and r-relax,” he gritted through his teeth. “P-put your f-feet up! En-j-joy the s-scenery!”
A faint voice returned. “W-what scenery?”
