Paws and Planets (21 page)

“Well, that’s
that,” announced Wanda when she was informed. “They’re going to
take us out section by section. How long do we have before food and
water runs out?”

“Two weeks,”
was Denis’s gloomy reply, “two weeks of this interminable waiting!
I don’t think I’ll be able to stand it.”

“Colonists?”

“Resigned for
the most part.”

“Better send
the beacon off while we can,” said Wanda.

“Why bother,
we’re too far away, they’ll never find it.”

“Probably not,
but you never know. Some day perhaps our people might get this far
out. Enter all the information you have about these dragons,
visuals too.”

“Visuals?”

“Of dragons,”
explained Wanda patiently. “There must be some reference to dragons
in the library reference banks. Try under fairy stories and
legends.”

* * * * *

Wanda dismissed
the bridge crew.

“I’d rather
stay here,” said Denis, realising that Wanda had decided to remain
on her own on the bridge.

Wanda smiled,
“bring in your family then, they can have my ready cabin.”

He left to get
his family.

Within the hour
the bridge was deserted of crew and Denis’s young family were
running around this previously sacrosanct place, thoroughly
enjoying themselves.

Later a few
others of the bridge crew returned, those with no families,
Spacefleet was their family. They congregated together in one
corner, talking of past times.

If their plight
hadn’t been so dire Wanda would have enjoyed the informality of it
all.

Then
all
the communications links failed. Each section of the
Melbourne
now existed in isolation.

“It’s the not
knowing that’s the worst,” said Lane, Denis’s young wife and Wanda
agreed. “If only they’d come and get it over with,” she added, “or
are we just to be left to die or what?”

“We’ve the
sleep gas,” said Denis in a voice devoid of emotion.

“We’ll use it
when we have to,” Wanda told them. “Before comms failed the Section
Heads were considering it.”

With the data
lines down there was no way to execute the sleep-gas procedures,
the final resort, from the bridge. It would be up to each Colony
Section Head to decide whether to use it or not. Wanda rather
thought they would. Better the calm sleep of death than to face
these dragons awake. At least the air continued to blow in.
Suffocation was a horrible way to die.

They must be
oxygen breathing like us.

* * * * *

Wanda didn’t
know it but the bridge was the last area on the ship where anyone
remained alive. All the Section Heads had opened the sleep gas
vents as food and water began to run out.

The dragons
didn’t even try to fight their way into each section. Perhaps they
understood that these strange two-legged space-travellers would
take the sleep gas option having found a supply of it in one of the
lower holds. They were in no hurry. It had taken them some time to
empty the re-provisioning sections of everything edible and of
anything that might possibly be useful.

Only then did
they begin to break down the hatches to the other sections and
begin to strip them too.

Wanda and the
others would have been distraught to learn that ‘anything edible’
included the bodies of the colonists and crew once under her care
and command.

The Dglai left
the bridge until last.

The inner door
to the bridge was made of a reinforced perspex substance.

Wanda and the
others heard the outer door give.

“It is time,”
said Wanda as she cut the seal on the sleep gas canister and the
gas began to hiss out.

She placed the
canister on the ground at her feet and looked over at the door.

A large green
creature looked in at her. She could see the glint in its eyes as
it peered inside. The first tendrils of sleep gas reached her
nostrils and she forced herself to take a deep breath. She gave the
creature a finger gesture of contempt as her legs gave way beneath
her and she saw the head start back with surprise.

Final sleep
overcame her. She was dead by the time the Dglai began dragging the
bodies outside.

* * * * *

The Dglai
looked round with deserted bridge with greedy dispassion.

“A profitable
excursion,” the leader said to his companions. “It would have been
more interesting if they had tried to fight us, a puny species they
are, no fight in them, no match for us Dglai.”

“We are
omnipotent!”

“We are
indestructible!”

“We are
Dglai!”

* * * * *

THE LAI, FACT
OR FICTION?

An Extract from
a Dissertation

(Author: Landis
Retwick, Emeritus Professor of Literature, University of Stewarton.
Extracted from ‘A Collection of Scholarly Works.’ [Stewarton Press
AL 562])

Much has been
written already concerning the oral traditions and stories of our
neighbours, the Lind. Few of them have been examined more than the
one the Lind call ‘The First Tale’.

It is the one
that concerns the Lai; the wonderful, great, huge, flying, fabled
beasts of Lind mythology.

The earliest
written account of ‘The First Tale’ is by Tara Sullivan-Crawford in
her book ‘Tales of Rybak’. She does not try to explain the myth and
claims that the words are an accurate translation of the rendition
as told by the famous Lind storyteller Janzei of pack Malkei. There
is no reason to doubt her words.

Of course, it
is well known than before man arrived the Lind had no way of
writing down their history and stories and ‘The First Tale’ is
therefore, by its very nature derived from the oral genre.

This, the
oldest tradition about the origins of the Lind is set so far back
in pre-history that its facts cannot be verified. Oral recollection
is by its very nature apt to change from generation to generation
and therefore the story so faithfully translated by Tara
Sullivan-Crawford must be in some parts embellished and other parts
forgotten.

The old game of
‘Chinese Whispers’ comes to mind although it is odd that while
other stories differ from pack to pack, this one remains remarkably
similar whether told by a pack to the far west or told by one who
live nearer to us here in Argyll. It also has to be said that when
I spoke to some Lind of my acquaintance that their rendition of the
story were remarkably similar to Tara Sullivan-Crawford’s
translation.

I believe that
this latter is because of the fact that the tale is now written
down and not due to the memory abilities of the Lind. Now that the
story has been written in pen and ink this had stopped any changes
to the story that might otherwise have developed if the Lind had
had to continue to rely on the oral genre.

Professor David
Wallace, some two hundred years ago wrote an essay and came to a
number of interesting though far-fetched conclusions. For example,
he believed that the power of the Lind to remember is almost
paranormal. Today’s oral recollections of the Battle of the
Alliance and of the Battle of Trumpet Keep parallel almost exactly
the written reports from that time.

I argue that
these events occurred not so very long ago and that there has been
no time for the oral story to change and that the existence of the
written records has stopped any embellishments and changes that
would otherwise have occurred.

There is no way
that we can substantiate the stories the Lind have from the times
before we humans arrived on this our planet.

There are
grains of truth in them but no more. The continents were one large
supercontinent once. The geologists have proved it.

It is also
obvious that the early ancestors of the Lind could neither talk nor
reason. Hark back to early mankind. There is no reason to suppose
that the fabled Lai actually taught them to speak. The idea is
ludicrous. Evolution and evolution alone determines speech.

In man’s
infancy he believed in fantastic and supernatural beings who spun
their planet out of nothingness and created man but we know now
that life evolves, that no supernatural beings created the planets.
The Lind talk about their ‘Blue Pastures’, where they go when they
die but is this not the same as what some men and women call
’Heaven’?

‘Lai’ is the
same as ‘God Almighty’. The Lai are a tale created to explain the
meaning of life before science and learning came to the fore.

When we say
‘Thank the Lai’, it is a saying like ‘thank the gods’ or ‘thank the
stars’. It is a term of speech, a slang phrase, nothing else.

The Lai are a
belief, a fable, no more, no rational and sane person could believe
any different.

* * * * *

The Planet Wolf
Year

First Month of
Summer – Dunrhed : Second Month of Summer - Vadrhed : Third Month
of Summer - Lokrhed : Fourth Month of Summer - Sanrhed : Fifth
Month of Summer - Rakrhed : First Month of Winter – Dunthed :
Second Month of Winter - Vadthed : Third Month of Winter - Lokthed
: Fourth Month of Winter - Santhed : Fifth Month of Winter -
Rakthed

* * * * *

CHARACTERS

(Wolves –
Planet Wolf- Volume 1) - (Courage – Planet Wolf – Volume 2) -
(Honour - Planet Wolf – Volume 3]) - (Destiny – Planet Wolf –
Volume 4) - (Victory – Planet Wolf – Volume 5)

The Lai – Their
Prequels

Adua : Lai
(Episode 3/4/5 – Dagan) : Mate of Dakaru

Aei : Lind :
(Episode 3/4/5 – Dagan)

Afanasei :
Lind (Newcomers on Two Legs) : Susa of the Lindar of Zanatei,
leader of the patrol that found the colonists when the arrived on
the planet (Wolves, Courage)

Andei : Lind :
(Episode 3/4/5 – Dagan)

Anua : Brai
(Episode 2 – Earth)

Aya : Lind :
(Episode 3/4/5 – Dagan)

Belu : Lai
(Episode 3/4/5/6 – Dagan) : Son of Saru and Sanua

Brnu : Sbnai
(Episode 1 – Daiglon) : Susa of the Silokko

Dabu : Lai
(Episode 1 – Daiglon)

Dakaru : Lai
(Episode 3/4/5 – Dagan) : Friend of Saru

Danua : Lai
(Episode 1 – Daiglon) : Mate of Maru

Daru : Lai
(Newcomers on Two Legs) : Leader of the Lai when mankind arrived on
the planet and father of Haru

Dru : Brai
(Episode 2 – Earth)

Haru : Lai
(Newcomers on Two Legs) : Son of Daru and an important character of
the seventh Century (Destiny, Victory)

Jalatou : Lai
(Episode 2 – Earth)

Jansu : Lai
(Episode 3/4/5 – Dagan)

Jaru : Lai
(Episode 2 – Earth)

Jim Cranston*
– (Newcomers on Two Legs) : Petty officer on the WCCS Argyll. On
the planet he mind-bonded with a Lind, and was the first human
Susyc to lead the armies of the northern continent against the
convicts and the Larg (Lind: Larya) (Wolves, Courage)

Laru : Lai
(Episode 2 – Earth) – Susa of the Limokko

Larya* : Lind
(Newcomers on two Legs) : who bonded with Jim Cranston (Wolves,
Courage)

Mariya : Lind (Newcomers on two Legs) : Gtrathlin
of the Lind

Maru : Lai
(Episode 1 – Daiglon)

Maru : Lai
(Episode 3/4/5/6 – Dagan) – Son of Saru and Sanua

Niaill* :
Vada, Ryzcka of the First Ryzck, later 2IC Vada (Lind: Taraya)
(Destiny, Victory)

Qian : Dglai
(Episode 2 – Earth)

Quend : Dglai
(Episode 2 – Earth) – Susa of the Ammokko

Quort : Dglai
(Episode 2 – Earth)

Rezu : Lai
(Episode 1 – Daiglon) – Maru’s little brother

Sanua : Lai
(Episode 3/4/5 – Dagan) – Mate of Saru

Saru : Lai
(Episode 3/4/5 – Dagan)

Suchdei : Lind
: (Newcomers on Two Legs) :Susalai of the Avuzdel

Taraya* :
Female Lind, Vada, First Ryzck (Human: Niaill) (Destiny,
Victory)

Taya : Lind :
(Episode 3/4/5 – Dagan)

Velua : Lai
(Episode 3/4/5/6 – Dagan) – Daughter of Saru and Sanua

Wharua : Lai
(Episode 1 – Daiglon)

Zahra : Lai
(Episode 3/4/5 – Dagan)

Zanatei : Lind
(Newcomers on two Legs) : Elda (Leader) of rtath Zanatei

Zanfanu : Lai
(Episode 2 – Earth)

Zanua : Lai
(Episode 1 – Daiglon) – Susa of the Limokko

The Lind –
Their Prequel

Andiranya : A
pack from the far west of the northern continent

Alanasei :
Elda of the rtath (pack) wherein Kolyei grew up

Kalya : Female
Lind – Mother of Kolyei

Matvei* : Male
Lind – Susa (Commander) of one of the ryz (ranks) of rtath
Alanasei’s Lindar and later one of the first twelve Lind to
mind-bond with a human (Human: Kath) (Wolves, Courage)

Ralei : Male
Lind – Leader of the Lindar’s scouts

Sanvei : Male
Lind – Father of Kolyei

Tarmsei : Male
Lind – Friend of Kolyei (Wolves, Courage)

Tlsei : Male
Lind – Tarmsei’s older brother

Wlsei : A pack
from the far west of the northern continent

The Humans –
Their Prequels

Alastair
McCallum : Husband of Elspeth and father of Duguld (Courage)

Angus :
Crewmember on board the WCPS Electra (Wolves)

Anne Howard :
Wife of Peter Howard. She later was forced into marriage first with
Elliot Murdoch then with Sam Baker, she is the ultimate grandmother
of the Kings of Murdoch (Wolves, Courage)

Black :
Crewmember of the WCCS Melbourne

Brown :
Crewmember of the WCCS Melbourne

Camilla Todd :
Second in Command of the WCPS Electra (Wolves)