Koban: The Mark of Koban (64 page)

They had named Cenozo after the Cenozoic era of Earth, due
to the similarity to the types of animals that had evolved there, and that they
saw every day. That era on Earth was when diverse animals like deer, cats,
pigs, tapirs, rhinos, elephants, horses, owls, shrews, hedgehogs, and rabbits
had evolved. Koban had equivalents on that largest continent.

The existence now on Cenozo continent of the dinosaur-like
whiteraptors, and their smaller cousins, the micro-raptor screamers, was due to
their migration over the Paleogene land bridge on the north west coast of
Cenozo, over the last ten or twelve thousand years. They arrived, along with a
number of armored dinosaur herbivores, one of which was Thelma’s Thumper. The
latter animal, named after the unfortunate woman that sat on one, mistaking it
for a rock, only to discover that it came equipped with a club-like tail for
defense. A fatal discovery and posthumous naming.

The Paleogene continent had remnants of dinosaur families,
but it also was where moosetodons and yaks had evolved. It had been in slow
transition from Cretaceous type fauna to the larger mammals of the early
Cenozoic. Koban had not experienced many large impact caused extinction events,
as had driven and restarted Earth’s evolution by creating niches for new
species to fill. The scientists had noted the relative paucity of craters on
Koban’s moon (which everyone simply called the moon, not the Moon.) The existence
of older successful animals, long after newer forms developed on other
continents, was a hallmark of the “clean” planetary system where Koban was
located, and the long isolation periods of the three continental plates.

Jura continent, with even more primitive and ancient animals,
had been isolated from the other two landmasses for probably a hundred million
years. Jura had only a handful of storm blown examples of more modern animals
represented, except for birds and wolfbats, of course.

There was continental drift on Koban, but the higher gravity,
or possibly a larger iron core made the plates move slower than on Earth. The long
isolated continent’s name derived from Earth’s Jurassic era, and the abundant animals
there fit the name the scientists universally agreed was suitable. Dinosaur
equivalents dominated, in all their varieties. However, organic superconductors
had been present in their most remote ancestors, as they were for all Koban
life.

There wasn’t going to be any long dispute as to whether
Koban dinosaurs were plodding and cold blooded, or fast and warm blooded. No
matter what damned temperature their blood, nobody needed to stick a rectal
thermometer up the rear ends of any of these beasties to solve an academic
debate. They were fast, when they needed to be.

Thad and Ethan were stalking some gray, brown, and blue
spotted, large cow sized horned herbivores, which resembled
Styracosaurus, members of a Koban-style
Ceratopsian family of grazers found on Jura. Convergent
evolution had given these particular animals a triangular spiked head shield,
which protected their vulnerable necks from raptors and the plentiful K-Rex.
They had a two foot nose horn and parrot–like beaks but weren’t normally
aggressive. However, if threatened they would form a circle, and back their
butts into the center and face outwards. That was if they felt
threatened
.
People didn’t look large enough to be threatening, so if they became concerned
over the presence of humans, the placid, generally slow moving horned creatures
would run about thirty miles per hour. Not away from people as you might expect,
but rather
directly at
what they felt was large enough to be potentially
dangerous, and yet too small to stop them from trampling them into the teal
colored grass and brightly colored flowers.

You generally hunted them from
the side of the herd’s direction of movement, requiring only light cover for concealment.
They could smell humans, but that unknown scent didn’t alarm them. Staying out
of sight was the only hunting precaution taken. A hunter of these would take a
shot that dropped one in its tracks, and simply wait for the herd to move on as
it grazed. Except for a slight start of surprise of the other animals at the
noise, the herd would continue to eat grass and leaves, moving slowly on its
way, leaving the dead member behind without another glance. They were not quite
as tasty as rhinolo, but were less aggressive and far less intelligent. The two
men had followed the tracks by truck this morning, finally having to catch up
to the herd on foot, because they would take flight when sighting a “predatory”
looking truck.

Thad offered Ethan a suggestion.
“Son, one shot from behind the neck shield, into the skull. A 50-caliber slug
doesn’t need to hit the brain directly. The shock of the impact will turn it to
mush. Its brain is only about half the size of your fist.”

Ethan glanced at his dad and smiled, instead of rolling his
eyes as he would have a year or two ago. His father was a far more experienced
hunter, but Ethan was a TG. He was quite confident that he could take down one
of these with only his Krall pistol, and probably could do it with just the
large knife strapped to his calf. He knew he could outrun them on open ground
for at least a mile, and if he chose not to run, could simply leap onto one’s
back and ride until it grew tired. Except, he couldn’t do the latter if he had
to carry his slower running father, so he cheerfully accepted Dad’s advice.

In a fast smooth motion, which looked like a snap shot to an
average person, Ethan quickly raised the heavy bolt-action rifle, chambering
the large round home as he brought the stock up to his shoulder and right cheek,
and squeezed the trigger exactly the instant when the gun’s sight lined up with
the intended target point. The loud boom sounded out over the grassland, coming
from the nearby grove of trees where the two men crouched.

As expected, one of the smaller animals of the herd dropped
to its knees, a large slug passing through the center of its tiny brain. The
shields of the other animal’s heads pivoted as they lifted their heads at the
report and looked around, sniffing. Then, seeing or smelling no threats, they resumed
munching grass, slowly moving towards uncropped teal colored fodder ahead,
walking around the deceased herd member.

Thad offered his boy a complement. “I thought you might take
the large bull for the trophy horn. You made a much better choice.”

Ethan nodded his agreement. “We only have seventeen mouths to
feed, nineteen if I count Kit and Kobalt. That smaller cow has twice the amount
of meat we need. It’s going to be more tender than that bull, and I won’t catch
as much grief from Kit over wasting food. She or Kobalt can let the lions know
about the leftover meat.”

Thad latched onto that new subject. “Has she and Kobalt
gotten over their disappointment in the cats here? I haven’t frilled either of
them since you told me their negotiations mostly flopped.”

Ethan shook his head. “They both think the breeds of cats we’ve
found here so far are…,” He paused considering. “I guess the images they gave
me mean they are more primitive than rippers. The lions also were a lot less
than thrilled to see two
really
large feline competitors in their
territory. They just wanted to be left alone.”

On Jura, the cats contacted thus far lived as long-term mated
couples, and were solid tan colored. They called them lions, but they were
closer to the size and lanky body type of Earth leopards, only without spots,
sporting white facial markings over the eyes and sides of the muzzles. The male
had a red-brown mane of bushy hair above the top of the neck frill, which
tapered partway down the back, hence the use of
lion
as a descriptive
name for the species.

“Their aloofness may have something to do with what your
Uncle Dillon said about their reduced level of socialization, when compared to the
ripper pride structure. The lions occasionally meet and interact with other mated
pairs, and introduce their cubs as potential mates for other cubs, and they exchange
mind pictures, but they are not instinctively pack animals. It’s the concept of
the pride that lets rippers accept humans as another pride animal.”

“That seems reasonable.” Ethan shrugged, “I don’t think we
will have as close a relationship with lions here, but they definitely received
mind pictures of how dangerous and vindictive humans can be if they ever attack
one of us. Kit says they will accept our meat gifts as reason to avoid conflict
and competition. They positively don’t want a ripper coming after them. They
can run faster, but not for as long, and they would be no match for our cats
when caught.”

“I guess a truce is better than nothing, but it would have
been nice to have active cooperation.”

“Kobalt’s pictures imply that rippers might like the
challenge of establishing prides in virgin territory over here, hunting
completely knew creatures with different prey terror images to enjoy.”

“Yea, it’s their raw enjoyment of the kill that’s the
hardest images for most people to share with them.”

“Well, they don’t like our willingness to kill for other
than food. Those are hard images for them to accept. Yet they understand and
agree with our desire to hunt the Krall and stop them from killing anything alive
for sheer pleasure. The wild prides think the enemies of their enemy are
friends, so we are allies against the evil wasteful Krall.”

Thad indicated his agreement, and looked over to their now
isolated meat kill. “Ok, young swift legs. Go get the truck, and I’ll start the
butchering.” He pulled out his own eighteen-inch hunting blade. “We can be back
to camp by midday.”

When he heard the truck returning, it was making more noise
than seemed reasonable. The electric motors and fusion bottle power plant were
quiet, but the truck body rattling and wheels leaving and slamming onto the
uneven ground at high speed made a lot of noise. The edge of the grove of trees
prevented him from seeing the vehicle, until it came around the distant corner
of trees, nearly tipped up on its left wheels in a hard right turn.

What in hell is that kid up to?
He wondered.

Carson and Ethan had largely gotten over the urge to show
off their TG abilities in front of their parents. Especially when some bragging
feat of accomplishment for a mom or dad was inevitably followed by words such
as: “Great, now see how fast you can do the dishes and clean your room,” or
“You really
are
strong, so carry the laundry over to the Flight of Fancy.”

When Thad spotted a flash of teal through the windscreen, he
became concerned. That was Kit with him. She had been doing patrol duty around
the camp, watching for predators that might be tempted to “sample” a new prey
animal. The radio at his waist hadn’t made a peep, which he’d expect if
something large, like a family of K-Rex came close. The forty-foot partly
blue-feathered Koban replicas of a
Tyrannosaurus were extremely dangerous, and you needed
heavy guns to bring them down.
They absolutely could not be frightened away.
For exactly the same reason whiteraptors could not be chased away at home.
An apex killer feared nothing.

The Rex’s often followed behind herds, but the
Ceratopsians
he and Ethan stalked had not
passed particularly close to the expedition’s temporary campsite. They had been
camped in the area for several days, scouting the region around an abandoned
Krall compound, planning for a new settlement. There had been no sign of the
big predators, and they would be hard to miss from the air.

Thad wiped his bloody blade in the grass, and slid it into
its sheath. He wiped his hands on more grass as the truck closed, hardly
slowing. He picked up the rifle and stood waiting as the truck slid to the end
of its wild ride. Both Kit and Ethan made graceful exits on the fly, even as
the truck rocked back with its brake locks set. For what seemed the millionth
time, he noticed the smooth powerful movements of his son and Kit, and mentally
compared their movements to how he remembered the Krall moving, so many years
ago. He knew he was biased, but he saw more grace and greater power in both of them,
and not only because the Krall were bowlegged and he hated them.

With no preliminary, Ethan said, “Frill Kit, Dad.”

He reached out and gripped the fleshy frill of the heavily
panting cat, using thumb and forefinger. Instantly he had an image of Tet beckoning
with a sense of urgency, followed by an old image of several Krall carrying
rifles, all of which suddenly whirled and looked directly at him, and they started
running for a shuttle he saw beyond them. They fired towards him, and to their
sides, as his viewpoint rotated and shifted rapidly, in fast and confusing
arcs. He realized he was seeing a ripper’s view of a pursuit of three Krall
warriors that were fleeing for their lives. They were shooting at the ripper,
but missing as it bounded and twisted, changing directions. He caught a glimpse
of other rippers coming in from the sides. His viewpoint suddenly shifted, and
he was now seeing the scene from one of the other rippers, which pulled up just
as a shuttle hatch closed. The Krall had barely made it into their shuttle. The
sense was that these were old pride memories.

Another image of Tet returned, one hand apparently on Kit’s
frill, the other hand clearly beckoning him urgently. He pointed skyward, and
then at the larger of their two shuttles. He next saw an image of Prime City,
then Hub City. Then the images were from Kit’s viewpoint, racing from the camp
to find them.

Thad released the frill, and told Ethan, “You drive, get us
back to camp now.” He put his rifle into its padded gun box behind the front
seats, and motioned Kit to get in the back. He felt the heat radiate from her
body as she passed him, and realized she had run that twelve-mile distance to
reach them. He gripped the doorframe, pressed a hand against the truck cab roof,
and braced his feet. This was going to be one brutal ride.