Star Child (6 page)

“Fire!” C 34 yelled after kneeling. He did not want to get shot from behind.

The dark corridor erupted in gunplay, and the walls’ Martian Sanskrit danced to life in a blaze of fiery blue splashes. The rat’s overly large eyes reflected like glass as they attacked.

“What huge ivory teeth!” C 34 loudly remarked while pulling on the weapon accurately.

Squeals and death groans followed with every trigger pull. The companion’s aim made quick work of the charging beasts. Burning flesh and fur created a tangy odor. The dead piled up partially blocking off the smoked filled hall.

A loud rumble quavered the ground; debris filled the large antechamber before the Centurions entered.

“Rebel Lexis, we are going to need the diggers in here. The vermin are very smart.”

“Please specify transmission?”
Lexis inquired from the vault.

“We have cleared the upper chamber but they collapsed a tunnel behind them to conceal their escape,” Centurion 34 responded.

“I confirm request. I will dispatch an Engineer immediately to assess the situation.”

“Affirmative,” said Centurion 34.

The Centurions killed any remaining giant rats before the day ended. Lexis then had the Engineers destroy the existing tunnel. She wanted to turn the pyramid into a livable fortress for Tiberius when he grew into adulthood.

T
HREE
M
ARTIAN
Y
EARS

The thick grass bent below his large feet as he slowly crept through with his spear. Tiberius’s shark like skin easily fended off the early morning dew; though the air was still, making it a challenging hunt. A pocket of fog rose from the ground, helping conceal the approach. At any time, sneaking up on a herd of deer was a difficult prospect. And after singling out a large buck, Tiberius stood. The deer’s eyesight caught his movement but it was too late. In that instant he cantilevered at the waist, reeled back the spear, and the buck turned looking straight into Tiberius’s eyes when the spear flew with deadly accuracy. The ill-fated animal dropped straight away, and death gripped the groaning deer as it struggled to breathe.

Lexis had taken Tiberius hunting nearly every day for two months, teaching him tactics. She taught him how to use any means of cover to mask or hide his presence, such as trees, tall grass, weather, and the lay of the land.

“Always approach downwind so the animal won’t smell you,” instructed Lexis.

“Yes, Lexis. I know, you told me this already,” responded Tiberius after pulling the spear out of the dying Pecora.

“I know but I want to reiterate what you have learned.”

With unpredictability, Tiberius plunged his knife into the upper abdomen, splaying open the organs. He then reached up inside the deer, and pulled out the animal’s heart. Lexis watched in silence as Tiberius ate the still beating heart.
“He’s thinking for himself,”
she thought.

Observing the day’s hunt, she noticed for the first time that he had developed his own throwing technique, and displayed a primal desire to connect with the animal.
“He is becoming a skilled hunter.”
Dropping the deer immediately, showed his mastery. Usually, the two had to track the dying animal for some distance.

Outside of teaching him all the sciences, history, and everything she knew about being human, she also had to prepare him for the inevitable. Soon he would want to mate. The genetically modified females would be his only option when the time came. One day he would have to challenge the Southern Clan Leader’s position, and fight him to the death. This course of action would be his only way to mate within the Clan.

Already showing aggressive Humanoid tendencies, Tiberius was in the beginning stages of puberty. Soon he would be uncontrollable, and nothing would stop him searching out a mate. For now, all she could do was prepare him for adulthood. The Cydonian plain was where she would do it. Also, by running him all over the savanna, she hoped it would help cool off his jets until he was ready to usurp the Southern Clan Leader.

F
OUR
M
ARTIAN
Y
EARS

Lexis was astounded by Tiberius’s learning capacity, and innate ability to understand complex ideas. He absorbed information at an incredible rate. So impressed by this she decided to do an in-depth study into his DNA. In the vault’s lab, she discovered an anomaly in the Humanoid’s sequencing. Within the strands was hidden information. She could not immediately see the DNA information because there was an encrypted biological lock blocking access to the data. Cracking the lock, and deciphering the material would take some time but she was most certain the Humanoids on Mars were originally designed for military applications.

When Mars exploration began, the United States of America was at the pinnacle of space exploration. Their military was centuries more advanced than any other country on Earth, giving them an edge, and when the early civilizations fell during the drastic climate change, they were the last of the countries to fall. Lexis surmised the Humanoids were their product.

              During the fourth year, Lexis taught Tiberius modern warfare, and how to use all the weapons at his disposal, including the weapon systems of the Chameleon. Tiberius loved the Chameleon; he had easily mastered navigation, and knew every inch of her inside and out. Lexis concluded he was far superior to any human she had ever known. Her genetic tinkering had created the perfect specimen.

              Lexis explained to Tiberius all she knew about his DNA, and told him that he would have a great path before him. She planned to unlock a grand future for him and was determined to see it through.

F
IVE
M
ARTIAN
Y
EARS

Casting corrugates of opposing shadows, Deimos and Phobos flushed the Martian landscape in a tainted vanilla glow. Approaching the encampment, a knot of stomach anxiety roiled up inside Tiberius when he saw the hard corners of the longhouse. A warm gentle breeze whispered at his face, causing olfactory glands to work overtime.
“The dung pit must be in front of me,”
he thought. Masking his own scent the warm night worked in his favor when the mixture of foul odors carried downwind. Skirting the structure’s flank, he circumvented the pungent waste pit with a nerve-rattling stride.

Sweat profusely poured from his brow. He came within reach of the entrance and began pissing on the animal skin covering the opening. The contravene act would guarantee his distinct but potent male hormone be carried inside by an inward draft, inundating all with his tangy testosterone laden stench.

After saturating the door covering, he stepped several paces away from the longhouse where Tiberius then defied the dominance of the area’s velvety ruddiness by setting ablaze a semi-circle of torches.
“The flickering torchlight will create a mesmerizing spectacle within their primitive minds.”
He remembered what Lexis had instructed. Not one Clan had discovered fire yet, and Tiberius would not only introduce them to fire but a new beginning of many revolutionizing things, changing their world over night. A paradigm shift of sorts but first, he would have to survive mortal combat.

Adding to the spectacle, Tiberius’s body glistened in a colorful blue shiny paste, reflecting the burning torchlight; he faced towards the Clan’s longhouse. Lexis had covered his taut muscles in blue colored grease she had created from wild flowers and boiled animal skin.

Vein coursing excitement raced thoughout his body as the blood pressure thumped in his ears. He was driven to near madness with the need to procreate. Wanting to give plenty of time for his strong musky odor to fill the longhouse, he waited before calling out the challenge.

Body rippling with firelight, he finally yelled, “Haka!”

Tiberius impatiently paced in between the torches watching the entrance for movement. A gust of wind bent the flames’ tops causing shadows to angrily dance to and fro.

“Haka!” he screamed again.

With torch lit eyes, Tiberius now spotted several large faces peering from the opening.
“They’re all too scared to come out,”
he thought.

He squatted at the waste and began slapping his thighs. A rigid backbone defined his posture when he began his cadence, “Haka! Pala-ah! Uka pala-ah, haka-ka!” Exaggeratedly, he stuck out his tongue. And after several overemphasized tongue wags, he repeated, “Haka! Pala-ah! Uka pala-ah, haka-ka!” He slapped his chest several times while pointing up to the moons.

The Clan’s curiosity supplanted their trepidation, gradually revealing themselves. There was something familiar about the stranger. Gathering outside, they watched him perform the Clan’s war dance.

During his embellished ground stomps and emboldened movements, Tiberius easily picked out Clan members with similar genetic features. Differing them from the majority, his heart raced while fixating on the females. Albeit, he thought they were so much more beautiful than the rest, his resemblance to those genetically related females caused the entire Clan to look upon him with acceptance.

Every Clan had developed a distinct war dance, usually done to intimidate or drive off other Clans. He had studied their war dance to challenge for Clan leadership, but the Dominate Male was too amazed by the torchlight. Tiberius paused looking at the passive leader, and thought,
“I need to instigate this asshole.”

He repeated the war dance. “Haka! Pala-ah! Uka pala-ah, Haka-ka!” At the end of the rehearsed dance, Tiberius deviated from the war cry, and extemporaneously said, “Eat shit, asshole!”

He then reached between his legs and tossed mud, imitating flinging shit. Shit flinging was a huge insult in Clan life. When the mud hit the Leader’s face, it enraged him. Firelight emphasized the drawn lines of contempt as the Clan Leader’s face tightened. He then clenched his teeth, pushed aside a youngling and rushed Tiberius. Curiosity had turned into a full on assault. With hands straight out, he charged Tiberius as if he were going to strangle him. The Clan leader was not alone; another male followed right behind. Humanoids had the size advantage, being two feet taller, and out weighing Tiberius by thirty pounds; they were most formidable.

Lexis feared this might happen, she tried zeroing in with her plasma rifle’s scope but they moved too fast. Not being able to draw a bead from her vantage point, she watched uncomfortably from a distance.

Tiberius grabbed the Clan leader’s left hand, smoothly stepped backward, and using his own weight against him, tossed the Leader aside with ease. Sparks flew everywhere when he knocked over a torch causing the grass to ignite. Tiberius instinctively hunched straight down to avoid the second attacker. Though his swift thinking caused the unbalanced attacker to flip-up over end, he took a hard knee to the temple, stunning him.

Unfortunately for the second attacker, he had landed in the growing flames, setting aflame his loincloth. In a crazed panic, the frantic Humanoid wildly ran across the moor, causing the fire to wick up his oily body. Burning flesh and screams filled the night air. All stood amazed watching the Humanoid torch burn alive.

Dazed, Tiberius staggered trying to grab on to his composure; he knew the fight was far from over. He then turned around and looked into the tall grass for the Clan Leader to emerge. Suddenly his legs gave out from underneath. Tiberius collapsed face down into the soft soil. He tried recovering but could not, for his legs did not work anymore. There was warm sensation coming from his lower abdomen. On investigation he sliced open his hand on the sharp spear tip protruding from his flesh. The dominant female had thrust it in to his back. Strangely, Tiberius felt no pain. Before passing out, he witnessed several blue flashes streak out from the darkness.