Colonists, Hell Planet, Chapter 2
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** Colonists, Hell Planet**
** Chapter 2**
** By William W, Kelso**
*We made it back to our lair the next day, after a brief hunting expedition resulting in a nice fat lizard for each of us that we tore apart and devoured with gusto, famished from our mating. We resumed our routine of hunting and mining, but also added almost daily couplings to our agenda. There was no telling when, or where, they would take place, but mostly at night in the safely of our lair. However there was something about a brief intense mating in exposed areas with the possibility of being interrupted that added a feral spice to them. They were often spontaneous and initiated by either of us, we could be ready in seconds. The glimpse of a tail, an accidental rub against a flank, and mating after hunting became a most enjoyable norm. I would mount her, service her fast and hard, both of us roaring in ecstasy as we climaxed. But at night in our lair we took our time, as tender and gentle as two creatures like us could be. *
It had been obvious for awhile that Eve was gravid, our mating had been successful, but she didn't get fat or anything. Other than a noticeable bulge in her lower belly she remained sleek and sensuous, and we kept mating right up until a few days before she laid her clutch. Driven by instinct she made a nest in a smaller chamber of the cave adjoining the main sleeping area. She dug a pit and lined it with soft sand, and drove me away when I tried to help, hissing and snapping at me aggressively. I wasn't upset or anything, something told me she needed to be alone. So like any expectant father I paced back and forth and worried about my mate. I'd never had any children as a human, and as a reptile certainly had no idea what to expect.
Eve had no idea what to expect when she felt the time come, she just knew she was ready to lay. Brian tried his best; the dear, to help her build the nest, but he just got in the way and she finally snapped at him in irritation and he took the hint and ran off somewhere, but she could sense and smell him hovering protectively close by which comforted her. With her mate on watchful guard nothing would interrupt her. She felt her cloaca open and start to drip lubricating fluids, and then her vagina began to dilate as the first egg broached and began to push out of her. She squatted over the nest, her head low and tail held high, and grunted as the egg pushed its way out of her birth canal. It didn't hurt much at all, and actually felt kind of pleasant as the egg rubbed against her slick sex as it passed from her body. She turned her head and watched as the first large leathery egg fell into the nest with a soft plop, then she grunted again as the second followed the first, and over an hour later there were six eggs in the nest. The convulsions stopped, her cloaca closed, and it was over. She was greatly relieved she hadn't had to give birth as a mammal, the reptile way is definitely easier and much more enjoyable, she thought. Turning she looked at the eggs in amazement. My children, she thought, my babies. Lowering her head she licked the eggs clean of the thick lubricating fluid, turning them over until they were clean and glistening as the soft leathery shells hardened. Hearing a soft hiss she looked up to find Brian had stuck his head around the corner and was looking at her. She hissed back and waved for him to come to her.
*I could hear soft grunts and hisses coming from the nest chamber, and my pacing became faster, my head bobbing up and down anxiously. The fact there was none of the roaring and screeching I'd been halfway expecting was comforting though. I could smell my mates scent change as she laid her eggs, and knew I was a father, and both the human and animal minds were delighted. While I would have preferred it had been under different circumstances it was still nice. When the sounds finally stopped after going on for what seemed like forever I couldn't wait any longer. Tentatively I stuck my head around the corner and saw Eve crouching over the nest and the dull tan colored objects in it. She saw me, and hissing softly motioned for me to join her. I quickly moved to her side and looked down at the six eggs in then nest in awe. We'd done that, her and I, it was wonderful. They were the most perfect beautiful eggs I'd ever seen. And I knew from their scents I had two sons and four little daughters. I caressed and rubbed my head and neck lovingly against my mates, hissing my love for her and our children, and she returned my affection and licked my snout. We never used the wristcoms, there was no need. Finally we curled up around the nest, my head draped over her neck, and went to sleep, both very happy and content. Between us the eggs glistened in the dim light with the promise of the future. *
There was a major change in the mining operation after that. I undertook the mining operations on my own as Eve stayed with the eggs; she never let them out of her sight. Even with our "guard lizards" there were still plenty of smaller predators that might find a way into the lair in search of a fresh omelet, but we were way too alert to let that happen. Anything that did get anywhere near the lair quickly became deceased. We were fiercely protective of our clutch. At night we both slept curled around the nest, never quite 100% asleep. It's hard to describe, I got plenty of rest, but was still partially aware all the time. If anything had approached I would have known it. We took turns gently turning the eggs with the tips of our snouts; we just knew it was what to do. We didn't use our hands; NO claws allowed anywhere near the eggs. I hunted alone too, bringing whole prey, or chunks of larger animals, to my mate so she could feed without leaving the nest. I picked up the leftover scraps and bones and gave them to the cave lizards who appreciated the gifts of food. The little critters were downright smart and we became fond of them, and we trained them to keep watch and chirp and hiss if they detected anything passing near the lair. We were glad we'd hoarded our rations as they came in handy on the days I came back empty handed as it was much harder to hunt alone then as a team. I was still pretty good at it though, nine times out of ten I brought down my chosen prey. With a combination of instincts and intelligence I was deadly.
One time when I returned I knew something had changed as soon as I entered the cave. For some time the young had been calling, and we would nuzzle the eggs and softly call back as they chirped to let them now we were there and they were safe. When I entered the nest chamber four of the eggs had hatched, and the other two were well on the way. I stood there proud as could be while Eve cleaned the newborns gently with her tongue, and they chirped and peeped in pleasure as their mother welcomed them into the world. When they were sleeping later, worn out from breaking free of their eggs, I nuzzled and rubbed against her, both of us hissing our love for one another and our chicks.
Like other reptiles they were mobile and almost independent from the start, but did stick close to us for protection and food. We bit off pieces of meat rations and kept it in our mouths until it was soft and then spit it out for them to eat, we figured it was probably better then fresh meat due to all the vitamins and stuff in it, and the chicks thrived on the stuff. We made it very clear to the cave lizards AND the chicks that the others were not on the menu, and once that was sorted out they got along just fine. The closest equivalent I can come to human behavior is to say they looked like children playing with puppies. In fact the cave lizards pretty much filled the same niche as dogs on earth. It worked out quite well, nothing got near without the cave lizards becoming very vocal about it. If that didn't scare off the intruder we made short work of it.
*I still had to do the hunting pretty much on my own, the mining as well, as Eve had to keep an eye on the chicks. But fairly soon she took them on short excursions to safer areas like the smelter, and every now and then on a short hunt. They began to catch their own prey too, mainly small lizards or crab like bugs that tasted pretty good. One thing that worried us was, how were we going to teach them to read and write, to be civilized beings instead of just animals? Any attempts to teach them so far had failed; they just stared at the lines we drew in the sand, or the wristcoms with complete incomprehension. They did learn the nasal blasts, clicks, and other sounds we'd developed to communicate better, but it was far from a real language. The kids were smart, they just didn't have anything to relate too. They were growing up as animals, and we couldn't seem to do anything about it. *
I had been getting kind of worried that we hadn't had another supply shuttle yet, not that we needed much, but some of the equipment was getting pretty beat up. Neither we; big clawed hands are clumsy, nor the environment had been kind, and the damn blowing sand got in everything no matter how tightly sealed. So I was very pleased when I heard a sonic boom and looked up to see a vapor trail in the sky. The shuttle circled the planet once more and came down near ours. I took off at a smooth loping run, tail and head down, fan flat, to streamline myself and balance my stride. We can really haul ass when we want to. I reached the shuttle about the time it had cooled enough, and a short time later the hatch popped open and a snout stuck out, it would appear we'd not only gotten some supplies but more "colonists" as well. With a hiss of surprise I tapped into my wristcom, and sent,
"Welcome to Hell, my name is Brian, I promise not to eat you. Got any candy?"
The snout was yanked back inside, and my com beeped.
"We weren't told there were others here. My name is, was, Angie, before they turned me into a monster. I don't know about the other monster, he's in shock or something. Just hisses and snaps at me. I think he's gone mental."
About this time I heard some loud hisses and a shriek, and then a large dark brown dinosaur like myself came running down the ramp, glanced at me with a loud snarl as I backpedaled in surprise, and took off at a dead run across the sand and disappeared in the direction of the hills without looking back. What the HELL was that all about I wondered? What's that guy's problem?
I looked up again as the other dinosaur slowly walked down the ramp, and one arm was dangling with blood dripping from it. My wristcom beeped as she sent a message.
"Bastard bit me on my arm! Where'd he go! I'm going to rip his tail off and beat him to death with it!! MF!!"
I backed away a little just in case she thought I'd do in a pinch, having my tail ripped off did not sound like much fun. She was a big female, at least a foot taller then I was. Her coloring was the usual brown with orange mixed in, but she had pretty almost lavender colored stripes on her flanks. We looked at one another, turning our heads from side to side, damn blind spot, and appraised one another. She was not only big, but strong. I liked that. I tapped into my com,
"He took off towards the hills, probably miles away by now at rate he was going. What's his malfunction?"
She blinked her orange and black eyes, and sent, "I have no idea, there's something wrong with him. I could tell, and the company must have known, but they sent the poor bastard anyway. He tore his wristcom off as soon as he woke up, I don't think he knew what it was."
"Mind if I come aboard and look around? I sent back. I hope you have some of the supplies we need."
"Help yourself, they're not mine." She tapped back.
So I walked up the ramp past her, flaring my nostrils at her scent, and folding my sail entered the shuttle. As expected there were food rations, water bladders, and basically the same stuff my shuttle had had for cargo, but more of it. There was also, much to my satisfaction, a heavy duty gravsled for transporting stuff this time. That was one big oversight from the first shuttle. There were also virtual reality teaching machines, with both technical and basic schooling programs, exactly what we needed for the chicks. They had been independent almost from the day they hatched, being able to run around almost right away, but they usually rode on Eve's back if we went anywhere. Otherwise they pretty much just ate and slept, but it was obvious they were much more mature mentally then human babies, more like the lizards we were. So the teaching machine was very welcome, I'd start them on it right away. No "childhood" for our offspring. One thing that was a worry was there were no spare wristcoms, just batteries and a few spare parts. It was going to be hard communicating with the children even after they learned to read and write. I heard a soft hiss, and turned around. Angie was licking her arm and I realized the bite was nasty, the nut job had really torn up her arm.
"I'm sorry, I sent, I didn't know it was that bad. Wait here, I'll see if I can find a medkit."
Frankly I was surprised there was one, but at least the instructions were clear, done in "cartoon" fashion for big stupid dinosaurs. It was a pain the butt to read them though, had to turn my head sideways. Ever try to read with one eye while the other stares in a different direction? It was better to close one, which helped. There was a general purpose antiseptic which I lathered in large quantities over the bite, and an inflatable sleeve with built in epidermal pads that would let painkillers and more antiseptics and antibiotics soak in at regular intervals. As I slid it over her arm she gave a hiss of pain, but didn't flinch. I activated it, and she sighed as the painkiller kicked in.
"Thank you" she sent, "that was nice of you."
"My pleasure. It's too late to go the lair, so we'll have to hole up here for the night. It's not safe after nightfall, too many beasties."
"What about him, the other male?" she sent.
"He's on his own I guess, I replied, but we're pretty tough, and can outrun just about anything. He should be OK. Hopefully he'll calm down and come back later. If we hear him we can open the hatch."
"He was so scared, she sent, I could hear him screaming the whole way down."
"I'll look for him tomorrow" I sent.
*Next I sent a message to Eve to let her know the circumstances, and after she replied I turned and joined Angie in the shuttle, sealing the hatch behind me. We shared some meat cakes, then settled down and found out a little about each other. *
Her "crime" had been to protest against the government, or more correctly, the corporations that controlled the government. She had been a student at a university, and she and other protesters, or "social malcontents", had been rounded up after a protest turned into a riot in response to a police crackdown, and she had been "volunteered" to become a "colonist". She couldn't believe it; she said nobody knew what was going on, what happened to criminals and other social undesirables. The general belief was they were sent to work camps, and a lot were, but younger healthier ones without family connections who could survive the agony of transformation ended up the property of PanSundynn or other corporations who needed "colonists" for their intergalactic settlement programs. She'd only been nineteen. I was impressed with how well she was handling it. One of our traits I guess, we're tough, physically and mentally. At least most of us are, I wasn't too sure about Warren of the Wasteland who was still running around somewhere out there like a butt monkey. Hopefully if he ran into anything it would be more scared of him then he was of it. I was betting on him.
From the way she'd described things it had really been hitting the fan back home. It seems people were finally getting fed up with being good little peasants for their corporate masters and corrupt governments. The powers that be were trying to keep everything under control and were playing it down, but the people knew. Of course it wasn't our home anymore, we could never go back; we'd die of suffocation or hypothermia. We were aliens in every since of the word, created to live on this planet. It was our home now, whether we liked it or not, until we died. And I for one didn't plan on doing that for a long time. Finally Angie, exhausted and woozy from the drugs, fell asleep, snoring softly as air whistled through her nasal passages. I looked at her as she slept, and her lavender stripes really were very pretty.
*As soon as I sensed the sun was up I got up and poked around some more. Angie was still sleeping, so I left her alone. There were more power rifles, some sort of comsystem that didn't seem to do anything when I turned it on, and some liquid plasteel which was good. The stuff was great, you could pour it like a liquid, or thicken it to make it malleable like putty, and once you used a setting field to harden it the stuff was indestructible. Its tensile strength was incredible, and it will bend before it will break, and then snap back. Even a power rifle had very little effect on the stuff once it had set. They even make void ships out of the stuff. The more we had the better. *
After I had a better idea of what had been so generously given to us by our benevolent masters (whose throats I hoped to rip out one day), I popped the hatch and went out to take a look around. There was no sign of the loony tunes reject, so I went back in after awhile and started to load the sled with supplies. Angie just watched as her arm was still hurting her, though modern lizard medicine was working wonders. One big advantage we had was the local germs didn't seem to like us, so we wouldn't be getting sick. After the sled was loaded we sealed the shuttle and headed out. I set the sled to follow me at about twenty feet and took the lead with my power rifle ready, and Angie, similarly armed, kept pace with the sled. The sled made a big difference, and we reached the lair in record time. Angie got a kick out of the name of our little hidey hole, and hissed in amusement when she saw the "Lair, Sweet Lair" that Eve had burned into the wall of the cave.
To my great relief the two females got along just fine. Eve was delighted to have someone to "talk" with and help with the chores and also to help keep an eye on the increasingly adventuresome little delinquents. Since Angie was still unable to use her arm I made trips to the shuttle alone and brought back the supplies. Eve and Angie took that time to become good friends, and Angie was enthralled by the chicks and they seemed to like her too. I set up a "room" for Angie in another chamber, but after a few days she joined the rest of us in the big bed, and we didn't mind at all. She smelled nice, and it was that much more protection for the young. She left the first few times Eve and I mated, but stopped after a few times. We just didn't mind if she watched us. It wasn't exhibitionism or anything like that; we just flat out didn't give a damn. It kind of bothered me a little at first as the human part of me thought it wasn't "moral", but once my lust kicked in who cared. What Angie thought I never asked, and she never ventured. Eve didn't care either. It didn't seem to affect our relationships in any way.
In a few day's Angie's arm was healed; not even any scars, and she started helping me unload more supplies, and I taught her the fine art of digging in the sand for rocks. It was loads of fun, digging in the hot sun, blasting monsters, etc. One day when we were coming back to the lair we ran into the whack job, he had just killed a medium sized omnivore and was feeding on it. He reacted to our presence like any other predator who thought we wanted to steal his prey. Since I was male he approached me with his head down and arms spread, hissing loudly. I wasn't in the mood to mess with him, so just slowly backed away. Once it was clear I wasn't hostile he gave a last warning hiss, and went back to feeding, keeping one eye on us as we passed. Angie hesitated, and stopped to look back, but he just snarled at her. There was nothing human about his behavior, nothing at all.
When we got back to the lair Angie helped me unload, then disappeared to her room and didn't even come out for "dinner". After awhile I went to look for her, and she was lying on the bed I'd made her and staring at the wall. She raised her head when I entered, then put it back down with a sigh.
"What's wrong Angie?" I sent on the com.
"It's the other male, I feel sorry for him. She sent back. I think he's gone insane; he couldn't handle what they did to him. They never should have sent him; they must have known he wasn't right anymore. How could they do that?"
"Because they don't give a shit, I sent back, to them we're just animals. They had to get rid of him somehow, regardless, so dumping him on another planet was just as good a way as any. We're just as expendable as a lab rats to them."
"He was supposed to be my mate, you know, she sent. Now I'll never even know his name."
We can't cry, another thing they took from us in the name of fluid retention, but I could tell she was sad. When we grieve our hide gets duller and we make a kind of low pitched keen deep in our throats. Angie was doing that now, I think she'd finally come to realize she really wasn't human anymore, and would never be again. We all had to face that sooner or later. I guess the other male couldn't, but I had another theory about him. I think they took the change too far with him, goofed, and he went entirely feral, even his mind became an animals with nothing human left, no memories, no awareness, he was now nothing more than the dinosaur much of his DNA came from. If he'd just gone insane I think he would have just died of hunger or thirst eventually, but he'd been perfectly healthy and in his prime. Walking over to her I gently nuzzled her snout and licked it, the first time I'd done that. She sat up and I held her for a long time until she felt better, and she followed me back to the main bed chamber and we all snuggled up next to one another, the chicks in the middle, and fell asleep.
*Since the supplies had all been unloaded we got back to work mining. Eve and Angie took turns helping me, while the other stayed at the lair to watch the kids. They were growing at an amazing rate, and were quite an armful. We had amassed quite an impressive stack of ore ingots, and would have more than a full load whenever an ore shuttle showed up. I set up the comsystem, but still couldn't get the damn thing to work; I guess it must have been damaged in the landing. There was no way to open it that I could find, and no repair manuals or anything. *
*I guess it was inevitable that I would eventually mate with Angie and add her to my "harem". I knew she was interested, and I was also interested in her, she was one pretty lizard. But I let her make the first move. She'd been with us about a month and we were on our way back from a rather fruitless day of mining. We happened on a herd of omnivores, and being upwind had the advantage. She was turning out to be a good hunter as her instincts kicked in, and it would be good practice for her. I told her to find a good hiding place with a combination of sign language, tongue clicks, and low nasal calls, it was a kind of dinosaur pidgin that we'd been developing to make us less reliable on the wristcoms. She blended into the terrain in seconds flat, our natural coloring was perfect camouflage, and I moved parallel to the herd until I reached a good spot to ambush them. I jumped out and did a dinosaur version of "Oggie-boogie-boogie", and as they stampeded, thanks to my loud roars and other displays, she brought down a good sized female all by herself. We stuffed our bellies with the fresh meat, tearing off great chunks and swallowing it in a scene right out of Jurassic Park. It was bloody, primal, and there was nothing remotely human about it. The fresh hot blood always threw us into a feeding frenzy. *
After we were full we groomed and licked one another I could smell her arousal, and began to court her, circling and nipping, rubbing my tail across her body as her breathing quickened. As I gently bit at the base of her tail she gave a deep moaning grunt and lifted it for me, and with a roar of pleasure I climbed and mounted her. She did not lead me on a chase or resist my attentions, I think because she already knew I was an acceptable mate and she wanted to join my "family", or maybe she just didn't want to wait. She gave deep guttural hisses and squeals as I coupled with her and wasn't as "frisky" as Eve would have been, but it was still very nice, and felt oh sooo good. I gently bit and nipped at her back and neck as I ground against her, and she rubbed me with her tail and turned her head to one side to watch me with one eye while the other kept watch. Even as I serviced her I kept watch too, moving my head from side to side. It was survival instinct as we were in a somewhat vulnerable position; at least temporarily, and there was a fresh kill with the reek of blood in the air. But that very danger made our mating incredibly intense and pleasurable, and we both threw our heads back and roared in ecstasy as we climaxed. When I dismounted Angie rolled in the dust and squealed in delight, I was pretty delighted too, she was one hell of a good fuck. And I was also quite happy I had added another mate to my harem. It felt right, it felt good, and we didn't see it as polygamy, it was perfectly natural for what we were. As long as I could protect and feed them I could have as many mates as I wanted. We tore some large chunks off the carcass and took them back to the lair loaded on the gravsled.
When we arrived Eve and the chicks were delighted with the feast, tearing into it with gusto. Eve looked at me and Angie and flared her nostrils, it was obvious from our scents what had happened. Then Eve grinned, happy to welcome Angie to the family. Eve was the alpha female, but it didn't really mean much to our little hierarchy. It just meant Angie was the second female I had taken as a mate, but they shared their "duties" equally, and neither one lorded it over the other. And soon there were new eggs in the nesting chamber, and I was very proud of myself again as I hovered over my new mate and her wonderful eggs.
A tragedy happened a few weeks later when Eve and I were returning from a hunt we'd taken the hatchlings on. They were big enough to start taking an active part; it was amazing how much they'd grown in just a few months, and while they had the natural instincts of their dinosaur DNA they still needed to learn pack behavior and cooperation. We had a good hunt, and between the eight of us there hadn't been much left of the browser we'd brought down. We swarmed it so fast it didn't even have a chance to run. A Godzilla showed up as we were feeding, but the sight of a pack of eight good sized predators spread out in a defense ring convinced the Godzilla that it wouldn't be a good idea to challenge us for our meal. Angie had stayed at the lair to keep watch over her eggs as they were near hatching, and like Eve she never strayed far from the nest. We were tired and happy, stuffed and sleepy, cocky, and let our guard down.
*We were passing through a sandy area where the hunting for sand grubs was always pretty good, and had become somewhat strung out. I was leading way, with Eve in the rear some distance behind herding the sleepy chicks. Three chicks were close to me, two close to their mother, but one female was in the middle some distance between us. I first realized something was wrong when I heard a shriek of pain and fear. With a hiss I turned and it looked like the chick had fallen down, then I suddenly realized I had that impression because only her head, neck, and arms were above the surface of the churning sand. She gave another shriek of pain, clawing at the shifting sand, and then disappeared in a geyser of sand and dust. Both Eve and I arrived at the spot seconds later, but there was no sign of the chick, or anything else but there was a scent of blood. With a shriek Eve started digging and I darted back and forth looking and listening for a sign, for anything, calling for my daughter, my calls becoming more and more frantic. But our chick was gone, taken without a trace. We kept looking and calling until after dark, but when something large called nearby we finally had to give up and lead the remaining chicks back to the safety of the lair. *
*When we arrived Angie immediately sensed something was wrong, and when she saw a chick was missing threw her head back and gave a keen of grief, and I roared my own anguish as Eve's keening joined hers. The chicks, traumatized by the death of their sister, huddled next to us and added their higher pitched wails as they too grieved. Our anguished laments lasted well into the night, and when we finally went to bed both females hugged me close trying to console me until I'd cried myself, in the way of our kind, to sleep. *
*I blamed myself, if sand grubs were in that area it only stood to reason adult sand worms would visit the area to lay their eggs, or maybe they ate their young as well. The next day I took a large lizard I caught and staked it out near the spot where my daughter had been taken. Then I waited. As the sand worm broke the surface to take the terrified lizard I blasted it with a power rifle, again and again until all that remained were small pieces and melted sand. I killed three worms that day, and five the next. I have no idea if I got the one that took my chick, but from then on I killed them every chance I got. *
It bothered part of me that we'd never really given our chicks names; we knew them by their individual scents and markings. We hardly use the wristcoms anymore, and the chicks can't seem to learn how. Our use of calls and sign language has greatly increased, and we just don't need the coms that much anymore. We often go out without even wearing them, and don't bother with the power rifles much anymore unless we're mining in the sand desert or the chicks are along. We don't need them for hunting; we're way too good at it. Even the larger predators know better than to mess with us, especially after we tore a couple of them up pretty good after they wandered into our territory, so the word got around. Our speed, nasty natural arsenal, and organization made us more than a match for everything but larger sand worms and some of the really big bugs. But since the bugs were nocturnal we never ran into them much, being safe and snug in our bug proof lair. We did clear out one nest of the huge centipede like bugs though, we sealed the entrance with power rifles and left them to eat each other and/or starve. Nasty things.
One day as we came home from a hunt Angie; who as watching over her five chicks at the lair, was all excited. It seems the "inoperative" comsystem had come to life and there was a message from a ship in orbit. It would appear the com could only be activated remotely, probably to keep us from trying to call for help or tell people what had been done to us, the bastards thought of everything. I was shocked by the message; it was like a cold bucket of water in my snout.
*"PanSundynn FLT Void Ship Excalibur to colonists, message follows: A shuttle will land at the following coordinates to load ore. In return a supply glider will be dispatched in payment. This will be the last time a ship may visit for an undetermined period due to developments on Earth. The situation is fragile, nuclear devices have been detonated in Washington, London, and New Delhi and all civic order has broken down in many cities. We are unable to retrieve you at this time, so you are on your own. Good Luck. Message ends." *
*Holy crap, I thought. Nukes! I wonder who..? But then I also suddenly realized I really didn't give that much of a shit. I'd left no one behind I cared about, and we weren't even human anymore, those bastards at Genotech had seen to that. Why should I care if a bunch of aliens blew themselves up, screw them. And why would they want to "retrieve" us, where could they take us? This planet was our home now; we were the top of the food chain, the intelligent species. It was OUR planet! I talked it over with my mates, with the wristcoms and sign language, and with whistles of agreement we all agreed to let them have the ore as there might be something useful on the supply shuttle. The older chicks just watched; the younger ones were playing with the cave lizards, they had never heard of Earth and had no idea of what was going on, of if they did they didn't care either. *
The next day Eve and I loaded up the gravsled with ingots of ore and headed for the designated landing sight. Even with the sled it was slow going, and we reached the sight later in the day, just in time to see the shuttle land. It was automated, so we just loaded the ore in the cargo bay, and as soon as we were well away it took off with a loud roar of engines. We watched its trail of smoke fade, then turned and looked for a place to spend the night. We holed up in a shelter we'd used before, and improved, so were pretty safe. Later when I started "crying" Eve joined in and held me, we still missed our daughter so much, and we would never stop grieving. That part of us was at least still human.
The supply shuttle was something of a disappointment. It looked like it had been loaded in a hurry, and some of the cargo had been poorly secured and had broken loose during landing. As a result the cargo hold was a big jumble of ration packs, spilled water, and scattered equipment, what a mess. There were lots of rations, which was nice, but we didn't' really need them as we were more than able to feed ourselves now, though the salty meat was a treat. We saved it for hatchlings though, the stuff kept forever. There were more power rifles, but no extra power packs, and they had sent spare parts for stuff we didn't even have. Another gravsled had been trashed in the landing, but we salvaged its power supply and two of the lift units. And why the hell did they send us a crate of volley balls?? The kids liked the way they popped when they bit them though. We unloaded the shuttle, stripped it of everything we could, and hauled it all back to the lair. Since we had enough ore ready for another shipment; if there ever was one, we dampened down the smelter and stored all the mining equipment. It looked like we were out of the mining business for the duration, which was fine with us. More time to hunt, explore, and mate. The human part of us liked to experiment, and we found some more rather interesting; and very enjoyable, ways to slake our lust, quite frequently. The comsystem had stopped working again after the ship left; without even a thank you, so we were on our own.
*Another human trait we retained; much to our delight, was the desire for sexual pleasure. When a female was in heat our sex was pretty much animal as I responded to their need as an animal, and they responded to my rut the same way. But in-between our mating was combination of animal and human. For one thing I was much more "capable" then a human male, and was able to keep both females very well satisfied sexually. My thanks to Genotech for that little gift, or maybe dinosaurs were like that anyway. Most of our sex was group sex now, if I mated with one female it was only expected I would service the other as well. Often the other female would get impatient and join in on the fun, and I would ether lick her sex and tongue fuck her to help get her ready for her turn while I serviced one mate, or she would stick her head between our legs and lick my penis and the other females cloaca as we coupled. And you have NO idea what it's like to lay on your side with your leg lifted while two females lick and suck your cock, often with one lying so you could lick her cloaca and tongue fuck her at the same time. We were pretty uninhibited. I was quite happy with the "arrangements", and the ladies made sure I performed to the "best of my abilities". *
For awhile we concentrated on trying to teach the chicks using the virtual teaching machine, and whatever else we could think of. It was a dismal failure. I began to realize that while they were smart as hell, they were little more than very smart predators. Evidently there would be no second generation of miners, our children were little more than animals, but that didn't make us love them any less. I had no idea of what our life expectancy was; that is if something didn't munch us, but when we were gone that was it unless they sent more transformed "colonists" to replace us.
*Slowly time passed, about five years as near as I could figure out as "Hell" had no real seasons, and we told time by the cycle of the moons. I'm sure if there were oceans the tides would have been horrendous. As the cycle of the moons was about thirteen months, give or take a week or two, five years was as close as I could come. Eve and Angie didn't care. By this time the first clutches of chicks were mature, and about a half the size of their parents. The feral male had started sniffing around, and my mates and I drove him off a couple of times. The older chicks had taken to hunting on their own in small groups, though they still accompanied us as well. We worried, but we let them because we knew it was natural for them, and they were good at it. When one of the females didn't come back we couldn't ask the others what had happened, so Eve and I went looking. It was soon evident from the signs and scents that the feral male and our daughter had mated, and formed their own little pack. We had mixed feelings, but he was a good hunter, so we accepted it. If she wanted him for her mate, what could we do about it? Secretly I was pleased, when the females started going into heat it might be a problem. I could resist, but what about their brothers? There were three males and seven remaining females, two males and two females from Eves clutch, and one male and four females from Angie's. If I could I'd try to arrange for the half brothers and sisters to mate to try and keep inbreeding to a minimum. So when the feral male claimed two more females for his growing pack I turned my snout the other way. He seemed to be taking good care of them, and that was the main thing. *
*Eventually one of our sons took three of his half-sisters with him and left to start his own pack, and later another son took the remaining two with him. The remaining son stayed with us and didn't mate, for whatever reason. We had cordial relations with the other packs, and each established its own territory. But meetings were reunions of a kind and we would all nuzzle and "renew" our acquaintances, the youngsters always glad to see dad, mom, and their aunt. Even the feral male didn't seem to have a problem with that, and I knew were we grandparents when I saw chicks following the other packs as they hunted. And we also had fresh crops of chicks of our own underfoot on a regular basis; we were nothing if not prolific. As chicks grew up and joined other packs, or ones from others joined ours, we soon gave up trying to keep track of their genealogy. *
Slowly the hunting in our area grew harder, until finally we came back to the lair empty clawed more then with prey, and started to make a sizable dent in the carefully horded rations. I hated to eat them as they were only preserved food we had, and we had no way of making any more, plus we used them to help keep the chicks healthy. Raw meat does not keep well in 200+ degree temperatures; even the cave was only around 150 degrees at the coolest. We didn't like it much cooler as made us sluggish. The problem was the packs; there were now four of them, or maybe more, were over hunting the area, all the prey was all eaten or had fled the area. We finally came to the decision to move to another area and find a new lair; it was that or slowly starve. I knew a couple of the other packs had done so already, so since there was really nothing to keep us here we left. We took the only power rifle that still worked to deal with any nasties we couldn't tear apart on our own, and that was it. The wristcoms had all worn out, the main problem being the elastic bands that held them on; they had eventually become brittle and lost their elasticity. We had no replacement straps, and no way to make any. Our clumsy clawed hands were just not built for making things, our dexterity was very limited and delicate tasks were impossible. We tried carrying them for awhile, but ended up losing a couple when we put them down to hunt and forgot where they were, or couldn't find them again. We took nothing else other than some boxes of rations in case we didn't have any luck hunting until we reached an area with more game. We didn't need anything else, I sealed the hatch and we started on our little expedition, four adults; and a dozen youngsters of various ages followed by a pack of smaller cave lizards who I guess preferred to come along as opposed to being left alone.
*We explored the area around the hills for awhile; not really wanting to chance the open desert, but didn't really find an area that was much better. Hunting was a little easier on the move, so we ate well, but it turned out the hills were a kind of large oasis in the middle of the sea of sand surrounding it, I guess they were the remnants of a worn down mountain range. We encountered some packs we knew, and a couple we didn't, all feral and we weren't much better now. But other than territorial displays they didn't mess with us when it became obvious we were "just passing through", plus there were a whole lot of us. And some young adults left to join the other packs, and we picked up a couple stragglers who wanted to take a chance with our own pack. I made sure the newcomers knew who was boss of course. I, and my two mates, called the shots, period, and they backed me up. *
It might have seemed weird to some that we were in charge of what was basically a pack of very deadly, very smart, very feral, killing machines, but the truth was we weren't much different now ourselves. It had been obvious to me; and Angie and Eve, that we were slowly going feral too. Change someone into an animal, take away their power of speech, then maroon them with next to nothing on a barren planet, and their minds will adapt to their new "lifestyle" as a survival response. Plus I think we were still changing, only much slower now. We still knew where we had come from, and what had been done to us, but it just didn't matter anymore. What mattered was the here and now, my mates, and my children. That and finding food for them, our priorities were quite simple, as were our lives. One new development was my oldest son finally mated with two of the new females which had joined our pack, but he remained a beta male and let me do all the "thinking". He also backed me up, which was a big help. And I also added two "feral" females to my harem when they showed interest in me, mating with them as nothing more than animals. I ran them down and subdued them, making them my mates. Eve and Angie welcomed them without complaint. The larger the pack, the more the number of young, and the safer it was. We now numbered ten adults, seven older juveniles, and about twenty chicks of various ages. The adults cared for the chicks equally regardless as to who their parents were. We were more than a match for anything now, and nothing was stupid enough to try us. I don't think the company had planned on these developments, or the fact the "kids" were un-teachable beyond hunting techniques. They'd probably consider the "experiment" a failure at this point, but we hadn't asked to have this done to us, so fuck them. We were perfectly happy anyway.
*At one point we encountered a small pack consisting of one adult male, his two mates, and about a half dozen youngsters. The male was crippled, one hind leg thinner and weaker than the other, the result of an encounter with another predator, or one of his own kind as males will fight over females, and females will tear up any male who they feel may be a threat to their chicks. He could walk OK, just couldn't hunt other then as a "beater" to drive prey to his mates. But his mates were loyal, and wouldn't leave him for another healthier male. When we mate it's for life, we never abandon a mate no matter what. Call it love, or whatever you want, we take care of our own. But if females lose one mate they will try to find another for protection and safety, and other males will accept a new mates young by previous mates without question. We do not kill or eat our young. We allowed the smaller pack to join ours, their male being glad to accept beta status in return for the benefits it gave his mates and his young. To my surprise it turned out he and his mate were "colonists" as well. We managed to convey that much information to one another, and by writing in the sand were able to tell one another our names. So Doug and Sally joined our happy pack. *
*One thing that became evident was the hills we lived in were actually a kind of oasis in the middle of the great sand desert. We made a big circle that took us back to our staring place eventually. We then explored the interior, but there wasn't much other than a labyrinth of wind carved canyons and stone sculptures. We did make one very important find, a "live" cave with actual pools of water in its depths. The cave had its own unique ecosystem with blind fish, insects, and other creatures. Most were pretty small though, and any bigger critters stayed clear of us. So now we at least had a year round water supply to fall back on. But most of the life was on the borders of the "oasis" where the sands lapped against the shore like an island. *
Finally exhausting the possibilities of the "oasis" we eventually returned to recognizable territory again. After mulling over this development we set out across the desert towards some other hills or mountains visible in the distance. We had no idea how far away they were, and it turns out they were a lot farther than we had originally thought. We passed the half buried shuttles and the kids poked around and explored them having no idea what the strange things were, but soon we left them behind. The desert heat was brutal, even for us. We had our sails up all the time, our mouths wide open as we panted. We kept to the crest of the dunes as it was less likely we'd run into sand worms and the constant wind against our sails felt good. We tended to travel mostly in the early morning and evenings; the middle of the day was spent in whatever shade we could find, at night when it got too "cool" we would huddle in a sleeping ring for mutual warmth and protection, adults on outside, young in center. We were lucky in that we only lost a few cave lizards to predators, anything that tried for a pack member found out the hard way not to mess with us. Quite often the young, including cave lizards, would ride on our back when they became too tired. So we slowly made our way towards what we hoped would be a better home.
We had a bit of luck when we came across a supply shuttle that had evidently gone off course and crashed. It had split open and supplies were scattered everywhere. My mates and I were saddened to find the mummified bodies of two "colonist" in the wreckage as they hadn't survived the crash landing. The youngsters knew what ration cakes were, and we gave them the task of gathering up as many as they could find to add to our dwindling supply. We holed up in the wrecked shuttle for a couple of days to have enough time to scour the area, the youngsters calling to one another with loud shrill nasal blasts whenever they found something. There was also one full water bladder which was a very welcome treat as sand grubs were hard to find, and catch, in the open desert. We all had a good long drink which would keep us going for a couple of weeks before we'd start getting really thirsty again. We also salvaged some power packs for the power rifle, some medkits, and a few odds and ends that would be useful. One I really liked was a scanner designed to detect water, on the surface or underground. We rigged up a little sled for our meager goodies, and Eve, Angie or Sally would pull it behind them, the others flat refused to be harnessed. Ever try to put a harness on a pissed off kicking squealing dinosaur with razor sharp fangs and claws? As usual I took the point with the power rifle, and a gaggle of cave lizards brought up the rear. Doug was in charge of the supplies and guarded the middle of the caravan and carried the only other power rifle.
We finally reached the outskirts of the hills we had seen; it had taken us almost six weeks of steady travel. The outskirts were just the foothills of a towering mountain range with a few active volcanoes thrown in, but they were thankfully fairly far away from the area we set up housekeeping in, but occasionally ash fell from the sky like grey snow. The terrain was very similar to the oasis, only a lot more of it, and the hills grew steadily larger the closer you got to the mountains. It was a broken rugged terrain, all rock and drifting sand, but it was our natural element and we moved over it effortlessly. Thanks to our powerful muscles, tough hide, and claws we can climb just as good as any lizard, which included almost vertically without much effort. The rough and jagged rocks didn't bother us at all. They would have torn up anything, or anyone, else. A series of canyons opened up into the desert, and that was where the hunting was best. There were plenty of sponge bushes, spike trees, and other foliage including new ones we hadn't seen. One of those were huge tree like plants that put out roots that must have gone down who knows how far to the water table. They reminded me of baobabs, and had huge oval leaves designed not only to catch the sunlight, but to provide large surfaces for cooling. We called then "tress of life" because they were the centers of their own ecosystems. They became a favorite of ours, the shade they provided was nice, and they had a tough hulled fruit; or seed, that could be cracked open and the soft moist insides provided a good source of water. We just cracked them, scooped out the pith with our tongues, and swallowed it. We found one huge old patriarch of a tree that had a large natural hollow in the center formed by rotting wood, and we improved on it by removing more of the soft rotten wood and set up camp inside, complete with upper levels reached by ramps we carved in the sides. We weren't really built for arboreal life, but we did carve out openings onto some of the lower branches that were wide enough to walk on with ease. The hollow in the tree was much cooler in the day time, and stayed warm at night. We harvested dried out sponge bushes and built large communal nests, each male occupying their own with their mates and the young slept anywhere they felt like inside circles of adults. The cave lizards also took up residence and made short work of any vermin or smaller predators that showed up; we took care of the bigger ones.
*We also ran into flying reptiles; and bugs, for the first time. The reptiles were really more of gliders and they spread thin membranes between their front and rear legs to glide from branch to branch, but due to all the thermals could soar effortlessly for as long as they wanted. The bugs were just bugs, fortunately most being relatively small and harmless to us, except for one kind that had nasty stingers and lived in large hives. A few alone were no big deal, get a hive pissed off though and you got the whole kick ass though. We cleared out a couple of hives using slow burning sponge bushes which burn with thick nasty smoke when they're "green". I'd light a few, thrown them in the hollow or crevasse where the hive was, and then run like Hell. Those damn stingers could pierce even our hides. *
*The youngsters turned out be more creative then I had thought, or maybe I'd come to understand them better as I approached their own level of feral intelligence. They were able to grasp the concept of mutual defense and dependence, and we fortified the tree lair by building a thick wall of fallen branches and rocks across the main entrances, cementing it with the last plasteel compound we had. We built a heavy gate out of thick heavy wooden poles we made from trimmed branches and made a kind of portcullis of sorts. We also established guard posts on some strategically located branches, and at the gate. There was no real guard roster or anything, when one adult got tired of watching he or she would call, and another would take their place. It worked surprisingly well, and posts were never left vacant. And our patois of vocal, sign language, and other means of communicating improved and developed. It still wasn't really a language per say; and we didn't have a written one, English being limited to myself and other original "colonists", but we got things across; including ideas, pretty well, all things considered. Our hierarchy was simple, I was boss, then my mates, several larger males were my "enforcers" or soldiers, and everybody worked for the benefit of the pack, including me. There was no lording it over anyone else by anybody. Anyone who tried ended up with bite marks on their tails, and no one tried it twice. The hatchlings and chicks were cared for by the older children and adults, and the main job of the adults was hunting. We settled into a fairly sedate, but bustling, life style. We improved the lair, sent out hunting parties, and made eggs. We hollowed out a suitable chamber as a kind of rookery or hatchery, and the females all laid their clutches there. It had one entrance, a steady fairly humid temperature, was near the center of the lair, and most importantly was easily defended. The males didn't really keep track of which kids were theirs, and I gave up trying too. I had six mates now, and who knows how many kids, grandkids, great grandkids, etc. But any male or female would fight to the death to protect any hatchling, or go to the aid of any other pack member as we were all one big family. It didn't matter who your mother or father might be. But we were smart enough not to mate with brothers or sisters, or immediate relatives, somehow we just knew. Call it instinct or whatever you like. So far I had seen no signs of inbreeding, thank goodness. We did suffer some deaths from mishaps, and one or two just disappeared without a trace. If we got on the trail of something that had killed a pack member we hunted it down until it was dead, end of story. Nothing ever got a chance to kill one of us more than once. *
*Eventually some males took off and formed their own packs, which was just fine with us as we didn't want to overrun and over hunt the area. We did make sure they set up shop pretty far away though. One group set up their lair in a cave system, the other chose another huge old tree like we had. We stayed in contact, and it wasn't that unusual for a female or male to leave one pack and join another, or "raid" another one for a mate. We put up with it because it helped spread the gene pool around. If a male was smart enough, sneaky enough, and strong enough to attract one of our females and run her down and claim her as his mate, more power to him. And sometimes a female in heat would lure away one of our young males. Of course it wasn't always like that, some males courted their mates and didn't have to subdue them, usually ones they already knew and liked, and the females liked them too. The males and un-mated females hunted, the "married" females usually stayed at the lair to take care of the youngsters and keep watch, but several males always stayed at the lair on "guard" duty. *
*We also actually added "livestock" of a sort to the pack. It all started quite by accident when a female found two just hatched Godzilla chicks, and adopted them. She refused to let any other pack member near them, and defended them as fiercely as if they were her own chicks. At first I was a little concerned as Godzilla's are our chief rival, they're one of the few other predators big enough to give us a hard time, but fortunately they're pretty much loners. One by itself was bad enough, but a pack of Godzilla's was the stuff of nightmares. But to my delighted surprise the baby Godzilla's seemed to think their protector was their mother, and that they were the same as us, and played with our own chicks like they were brothers and sisters, and the darn things were cute and our own chicks loved them. So the whole pack accepted them and they became our "attack dogs", or more like main battle tanks. They ate a lot, but more than made up for it. So when we could we stole Godzilla eggs; putting them in our own nests, or "kidnapped" hatchlings and added them to the pack as "honorary members", and in time they mated and had chicks of their own. We treated their chicks just like our own, and vice versa. They received the same protection and benefits as our own pack members, and the adult Godzilla's were equally protective of our own chicks. And an adult Godzilla would come to the aid of any other pack member in trouble. It worked out quite nicely, for both species. *
Godzilla's did bear a passing resemblance to the old movie monster or dragons, but instead of big spines on their backs had the usual collapsible cooling sails which are the norm for all reptilian life here. Like us they were bipedal, but unlike us couldn't go on all fours as their front legs were just too small and most of their body mass was located in their massive hind legs, butts, and tails. They also had actual scales; hard as steel, as opposed to our own tough pebbled hides, with heavy thick bands on their bellies and underside of their tails. They had thick; but very flexible necks, and huge jaws full of really nasty sharp fangs, and their feet and paws had long sharp talons. Like us they ate their prey by tearing off large chunks and swallowing them whole. Our main advantage over them was speed and agility; we could literally swarm them before they could react as so many attackers confused them. But the ones we adopted became friends and valued members of the pack, and they were smarter then they looked. It was soon a common sight to see a hulking Godzilla and one of us affectionately nuzzling and/or sharing a meal. They even learned some of our "language" and we came to think of them as big cousins. It was a strange kind of symbiosis, three different species living together in harmony for the mutual benefit of all. Ourselves, Godzilla's, and cave lizards. The cave lizards took care of the vermin, the Godzilla's took care of anything we couldn't handle, and we handled everything in between, and everybody was happy.
It was Doug who took our relationship with the Godzilla's even further. I came back from a several day long hunting and exploring expedition with Eve and some of the older juveniles to find the whole pack was excited about something, and soon I was treated to the rather amazing sight of Doug riding an adult Godzilla female like a horse. Yee-haw! Ride'em cowlizard! He had made a kind of crude saddle and harness, and was riding the huge lizard around as docilely as if they'd both been doing it all their lives. Turns out the Godzilla's had no problem with having riders as long as they were fellow pack members. A few didn't care much for it at first, but other than disapproving hisses and grumbling at first they soon accepted it without question. This added a whole new level to our little city, public transportation! And if we were bad asses on our own, you have no idea what adding mounted "troops" to the equation did. Doug had done it mainly because of his bum leg, but soon everybody "wanted one". Soon all adult and larger juvenile Godzilla's had smug looking riders. It took us awhile to design a practical saddle as some of the earlier attempts didn't, um, work out. After some nasty falls; including one broken arm, we all got our snouts together and came up with a workable design for both saddle and halter. They were a bit crude due to our limited dexterity, but functional. Bits were out of the question; the Godzilla's would just bite through them, so a kind of mahout arrangement where the riders used a heavy stick to signal the Godzilla with taps and hisses; kind of like the now extinct elephants had been controlled with ankus, and it also helped in that we could "talk" to them. The main difference being our "ankus" didn't have sharp hooks, stick a sharp hook in a Godzilla's head and he'll pull you off and stomp you into paste. Like us they're intelligent animals, and you have to treat them with respect. Be nice and they'll return the favor.
Due to the introduction of "mounts" I decided to lead a rather large expedition to explore as much ground as we could cover until we got bored and decided to return to the tree lair, or something happened. As it turned out something did happen, something completely; and totally, unexpected. We took six Godzilla's, ten adults or older juveniles, in addition to the riders, and a gaggle of cave lizards tagged along. Like dogs they tended to "bond" to specific owners and loyally follow them around. I left Doug to keep an eye on things, and Eve and Angie came along. I wasn't one of the riders, I didn't care for it. Guess I was too "old fashioned". Besides, we could outrun Godzilla's. They came along mainly as "heavy backup" and to help intimidate the local wildlife. I'm sure we made quite an impression wherever we went, as in scared the crap out of everything.
We had been on the "road" for about three weeks and hadn't seen much of anything except more rocks, sand, plants, and more rocks and sand. We did find the granddaddy of what we had come to call "trees of life" like the one the lair was in; only this one was about twenty times the size of ours. It was huge, as in you could hardly see where it ended and where it started. I took three days just to make a complete circuit of the huge trunk. In its shade other plants flourished, including the biggest spike trees and sponge bushes we'd ever seen. There were also new plants, including a gourd like one that grew on thick vines, and the gourds were a good source of water even if a little bit bitter, and hollowed out the thick hard rinds made good canteens. We also ran into a really nasty carnivorous plant, and almost lost one of the pack; but her screams brought us at a run and we pulled her free of long thorny vines that had wrapped around her. The vines were like steel cables and very resistant to fangs and claws, if we hadn't been around she would have been eaten. The vines would drag a prey animal to a large bulb like trunk, and them lift them up and feed them into the mouth on top. It had no teeth and the prey was swallowed alive, evidently the mouth never quite closed so the prey could breath as it was slowly being digested alive, not a nice way to die. Fortunately the lizard-eating plants are fairly rare, and easy to spot as they were the only plants we'd found with "flowers". They weren't really flowers at all, but more like clusters of bright red leaves shaped like flowers, the plants use them as bait. But if you knew what they were in advance it was a dead giveaway to "stay the heck away or get eaten". But as truly awe inspiring as the "mother tree" was, that wasn't our main "find".
A few days after the incident with the hungry plant one of our scouting parties came in all excited about something. All I could tell was they'd found something "big" and "weird" they had no "name" for. So naturally they came to me, I know everything. But in this case I was even more blown away then they were when we crested a ridge and I saw the abandoned alien spaceport for the first time. I think my bottom jaw dropped so far I scooped up sand.
** The End**
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