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Black Wolf

Chapter Two – New Beginnings

When Dawn heard the howls of challenge she first thought that her pack must have encountered a bear while hunting in the valley below, but then she realized that she did not recognize any of the voices that had issued the challenge. Before she could see why she heard the distinct howl of her father, Storm, returning the challenge, soon joined by that of her mother Snow and the rest of the Mist Valley pack.

She rushed to the edge of the slope that dropped away from the den, from where she could see most of the valley. She saw the hunting party in the middle of the meadow that the river ran through where game was most likely to be. Just emerging from the forest to the south was a large group of wolves that she did not recognize.

It's a raiding party, she thought, and her first concern was for her daughters.

Wolves raided neighbouring territories for two things: food and females. When a pack was starving and their territory had no game they would raid another pack's land to either hunt on the sly or steal what the other pack had stockpiled. Of course, if you got caught doing it a battle would ensue, with the possibility of casualties on both sides.

Another thing that was often in short supply was eligible females. Packs where the Alpha reserved mating rights to himself were soon filled up with his own sons and daughters. Wolf females refused to mate with their male relatives, however, sometimes killing a relation with incestuous intent or being killed in the process of fighting them off. Even the packs like Storm's where wandering males were accepted as mates could suffer from too few female births, throwing the balance of the sexes off. The only way to keep the excess males from wandering off and weakening the pack was to acquire more females, and the only way to do that was to steal them from neighbouring packs.

“Cubs! To me!" Dawn had to get the cubs into the den. There was only one entrance and she would have to defend it alone until the rest of pack could get back to assist. Her daughters were almost old enough to fight beside her but she did not want them near the cave's mouth where they might be snatched by the raiders.

Three of the older adolescents who were hunting with Stalker and Clover, two males and a female, ran off to help their parents. Dawn's daughters started to follow at first but obedience to their mother made them turn and trot back to the den. Rascal popped up from the bush where he had been laying in ambush and joined them.

Clover arrived first and asked Dawn breathlessly “Mother, what is happening?"

“We're being raided. Get yourselves and your brothers back into the small tunnels at the back of the den where we store the firewood. Pile it up in front of you and don't come out unless you hear me or someone you recognize calling."

She hushed their protests and took up a spare spear left at the den for such times as this. Crouching behind a rock she studied the invaders in the valley below.

Something about this raid struck Dawn as strange. The raiding party was huge, at least twice the size of her pack's hunting party, as if they expected a fight. Also, they were headed straight for Storm and the other adults instead of making for the den where they were most likely to find food or unattached females. Surely they had spied out the valley before starting their raid and knew where the den was? There had be no attempt to hide it. So why were they charging straight at the largest wolves in the Mist Valley pack?

Just before the two groups converged she saw the invaders spread out. There were enough of them to take on her family two-to-one but most chose to engage her pack in single combat, except for two groups of five or six wolves each that concentrated on Storm and his mate.

Storm fought like a demon, only outdone by Snow. They each managed to hold of a half dozen attackers as they tried to lead them away from the den. This was due, Dawn saw, to the attackers holding back, keeping just out of spear range. Even the ones engaging the rest of the pack just seemed to be sparing, not fighting seriously, to the death.

Snow suddenly howled a warning and broke for the den. Dawn realized what was happening at the same time as her mother. This was not a raid, it was a conquest. The invaders did not want to steal food and mates, they wanted the entire valley. They were just keeping the rest of the pack occupied while they tired out the Alphas. Once they killed Storm and Snow the rest would be lost and confused as cubs in the dark, separated from Dawn, the hereditary leader, by half the length of the valley.

Storm redoubled his efforts but his attackers were deadly serious now. They risked being wounded in order to close with the great grey wolf where they could stab him with knives made from black glass and strike him with clubs tipped with sharp stones. Snow had broken free but only made it halfway to the den before the group after her caught up. She turned and stood her ground, determined to defend her daughter and grand-cubs to the death. Just before the first attacker reached her, she turned her head and locked eyes with Dawn at the top of the hill.

“Go" she mouthed, with a tilt of the head to add urgency. Then she turned and howled defiance at her assailants.

Dawn stood frozen for a moment. She saw her mother take down one big grey wold as a second one struck her in the side with its club. Father down the valley her mate was trying to reach Storm to assist him, but swift as he was he could not break through the circle of attackers. They were dying down there, and she had to move or their sacrifice would be in vain.

She spun around. Instead of hiding as they had been instructed her cubs were watching her fearfully from the entrance to the den.

“Black Wolf! Go grab the bundle of furs we just aired out for the winter. Rascal Wolf, take the bag I use for collecting herbs and fill it with dried meat from our stores, as much as you can carry. Go!" The two males scurried off, compelled by the force of her command.

“Clover, take this spear." Dawn threw it to her daughter who caught it in a two-hand grip. She turned to her other daughter. “Stalker, you are going to have to travel light. We are going over the mountain. Fleet Paw told me that just before finding our pack he came though a high valley that had some small game but no predators of any size. I think we can make it there in two days. I am going ahead with the young cubs because the invaders will surely kill them when they make it to the den. I want you two to hang back and watch the trail. Clover, if they follow us try to draw them off in another direction. Let them see that you are female then run as fast as you can. When you have led them a good distance away leave them in your dust and circle back as best you can. Stalker, you watch and sneak back to me if it works, delay them if it does not."

Until now her words had been stern and urgent, but now her tone softened as she hugged her daughters to her. “They will kill your brothers because they have enough males of their own line, and they do not want them to grow up and seek revenge, but if they catch you the worst they will do is assimilate you into their pack. No, don't protest … in a year or two your urge to mate will overcome your resentment. Don't make it a fight to the death if they run you down."

“What about you, Mother? Would they not take you in also?"

“No. They would kill me because I am the Alpha now and any of or pack left alive would owe obedience to me first. Besides, I have to take care of your brothers."

On that cue the two younger cubs reappeared. Black was weighed down with a large bundle of furs that had been cleaned, aired and set aside for the coming winter. Rascal had stuffed a good portion of their winter meat supply into a large bag with a strap for carrying it over one shoulder. He could barely stand under the weight and the satchel dragged in the dust as he lugged it out.

Dawn hurried to fill another, smaller sack with irreplaceable tools: a knife made from the rare black glass, a bone scraper, two spearheads, some thongs to tie them to shafts and a shaping stone for making more. Then she picked up the pack's prize possession: an axe. The axe had been made when one of their pack had found a piece of flat black rock with a broad, sharp edge freshly broken from a cliff face. Their tool maker had taken a fresh branch from one of the hardwood trees and split it carefully. Then, wedging the triangular rock in the gap he had wound the shaft above and below as tightly as he could with wet rawhide thongs. As the thongs dried they shrunk, pulling the branch back together and trapping the rock. After that he had set the axe aside for a year for the wood to dry out and become strong.

Dawn hefted the axe. It was a most useful tool as well as a formidable weapon. If only Storm had taken it with him today. But he had not been expecting this kind of trouble, no one had.

Howls of pain and anguish coming up from the valley below told her that the battle was all but over. She took the sack of meat from Rascal and gave him the bag of tools. It was much easier for him to carry.

“Come!" she barked and lead her cubs away from the den without looking back.

* * * * * *

“My God! They're tearing him apart!"

Mary had seen similar scenes when she was studying the wolves of Yellowstone in school on New Beijing but watching it unfold live before her eyes was different. The view from the drone camera showed Storm with his lips curled back, snarling defiantly as the invaders hacked at him with clubs and spears and knives. She could almost feel his pain as he went down in a shower of his own blood.

On another screen Robert had put up the view from Snow's collar camera, with the accompanying audio. It was lake watching one of the horror movies that had been popular before the Great Exodus as wolves splattered with blood darted in and out of view, grabbing at her legs and arms, poking her with spears as she gasped and cried out. Every few seconds she would turn and look to the crest where the den was before turning to face her foes again.

“128 is fighting a delaying battle." Robert, the expert on wolf behaviour, said calmly. “She must be trying to give her daughter time to barricade her and the cubs inside the den."

Thankfully he took the drone off the grisly scene in the lower valley and aimed it at the den. They were just in time to see wolf 212 and her cubs disappear into the bushes on the uphill slope.

“Ah, see! They're getting away. It will be interesting to see if the Southerners go after them when they are done with the rest of the Mist Valley pack." He swung the camera back to the valley floor, where the Southern pack had rounded up all of the hunting party that remained alive. They separated the young females from the males and the older females, the ones close to or beyond the end of their breeding days. They led the young females away as they began executing the rest by shattering their skulls with a large round rock on the end of a long wooden shaft.

Mary wanted to throw up. “How can you be so cool about this?"

Robert signed and sat down bedside her and took her small hands in his larger, wrinkled ones. “Take my advice, Mary. Don't get attached to your subjects. It's a cruel world out there; always has been. The wolves kill to survive and fight for dominance, and even the most peaceful packs have trouble and strife. One day a young male is fliting with a prospective mate and the next day he is gored by an elk that he didn't get out of the way of fast enough. Or a hungry bear comes upon a couple of cubs that wandered away from the den, or a geyser erupts while one is collecting yellow mud for treating wounds. There are a thousand ways to die out there and you will see most of them while you are here."

“I'm sorry, it all seems so …. random. I spent most of my life studying what it was that made intelligent species progress. I guess I forgot that progress comes at a price."

Robert nodded. “But they continue to progress. Hold onto that thought. Whether you stay here for just the five years you have contracted for or twenty you will see signs of progress. Why, the tools they are making now are so much more sophisticated than when I first arrived. That was even obvious to me, a zoologist. You will probably pick out many more signs of development that I would never be aware of."

“Thank you, Robert. You're right. I have my work cut out for me here." She wiped her eyes, silently thankful that she was not the kind to wear makeup that would have left embarrassing streaks. “Now, should we document the take over of the valley by the Southern pack or track 212?"

Robert called up the map showing the location of the collared wolves and linked the drone to the one annotated 212.

“We have enough data as to what happens when a pack takes over another territory. What say we see where 212 and her cub are going?"

* * * * * *

It took Dawn three days to find the valley Fleet Paw had mentioned, not because his directions were off but because its entrance lay hidden behind a stand of tall pines.

It was hard going. Snow started to fall as they climbed the mountain and they had no fire. Dawn had purposely not tried to carry any coals from the den because the smell would leave a trail easy for the invading wolves to follow and the light of a fire at night would also give them away. They would not starve on the trip though as Rascal had managed to grab enough jerky to last them all several weeks at least.

Clover and Stalker caught up with them halfway through the second day. They were tired and hungry but resilient in their youth. After a few bites of jerky they carried onward with Clover scouting ahead and Stalker guarding the rear while Black and Rascal did their best to keep pace with their mother.

The valley was a pleasant sight, even though it was isolated and too small for any decent wolf pack to bother with. It was wedged between two steep ridges that kept the larger game out, but it opened to the south so that even in the middle of winter it would receive a measure of sunlight, so the grass was thick. There was a creek and a small lake in the middle of the valley where animals would come to drink. Dawn saw plenty of sign of rabbit, otter, badger and mountain goat. She even spotted a few bighorn sheep on the rocky slopes above the head of the valley.

The first order of business was to find a den. Since they had no fire and finding a smouldering tree after a lightning storm was unlikely this time of year it would have to be a warm one.

They slept under the sweeping pines the first few nights as they searched for the right spot. One day, while searching near the cliff that rose up at the North end of the valley Dawn realized that Black had wandered off from the group.

“Black Wolf! Black Wolf! Where are you?"

His voice came back sounding slightly hollow, but not distant.

“Here, Mother. I've found a warm cave. Follow the creek."

She looked around and saw that a narrow creek had cut its way into the mossy rock. Steam was rising from it on this chilly morning. She signaled her daughters and other son to wait as she followed it uphill.

A few paces beyond a stand of spruce she saw that the creek emerged seemingly from the rock wall. But a closer examination revealed that there was low tunnel with just enough room for her to walk beside the stream if she bent over double. Five paces in she sensed the space open up around her and she paused to get her vision back.

When she could make out details she saw that the cave Black had discovered was just taller than her head, about twenty paces deep and about fifteen wide. There was a slight breeze coming in through the entrance which Dawn took to mean that there was a natural chimney somewhere inside; a crack where smoke from a fire could escape, if they had fire that was. A hide weighed down with a log would be enough to keep the heat in.

Thinking of that, she wondered why the cave was so warm.

Black was standing silently by a pool of water at the far end of the cave, awaiting her judgment. The pool was the source of the creek, and at first she though that the water in it was roiling from the rate it was being pushed up from underground, then she saw the steam. It was a hot spring. A very hot spring from the look of it.

She turned to her cub. “You're being very quiet."

Black pulled the finger he had been sucking out of his mouth. “I hurt my finger in the water. You told me not to whine if I was hurt so I was waiting for you to come and fix it."

“In a minute." She had been collecting herbs and other materials as they travelled and she had everything she needed to treat a cut or a blister in her bag, but it was too dark to work here. “Did you hurt your finger when you dipped it in the water?"

“Yes. Just the tip. I was being careful."

Dawn grunted to indicate that was open to interpretation. She held her hand out open above the pool and lowered it slowly toward the surface.

“The fires that live underground are boiling this water." She watched as the steam rose toward a cleft in the rock and was sucked away. It smelled clean, not like the yellow mud which smelled like rotten eggs. Pools that smelled like that were fine for washing in, if they weren't too hot, but you could not drink from them.

“I think it cooked my finger."

The thought gave Dawn an idea. They had no fire to cook meat on and eating raw meat could be dangerous, especially after a few days had passed. They could drink from the spring farther down where it was cooler and in here it was certainly hot enough to keep them from freezing in winter, but what if it was hot enough to cook meat?

She dropped her bag by the tunnel.

“Go get your siblings while I prepare a poultice. We've found a den."

Their new den was almost perfect. The smell of their urine and scat, deposited outside well away from the source of their water, was enough to keep the small predators away from the cave. Dawn showed her daughters how to weave a barricade from thorny branches to keep any larger ones out.

“What about mice?" Black asked as he examined the finished product. “Won't they be able to get through the gaps?"

“If they do then we eat mice that night." His mother advised.

“Live." Rascal added.

Winter came on hard and they were soon low on jerky. The three females were able to bring in the occasional rabbit or ground hog but big game was scarce and there was no way Dawn could bring any down with only her inexperienced daughters to help her. The goats were too fast and the big horned sheep to agile for a single hunter and she dared not risk using her cubs to cut them off because a blow from those horns could kill.

The cubs tried to help but their efforts were to no avail at first. Added to that there was the threat from a nearby gang of coyotes.

The coyotes kept their distance when Dawn was around, but when they knew she was out hunting they would come to the den and try to steal what little food the family had accumulated. Clover or Stalker or both had to stay back at the den to guard their meagre possessions and the younger cubs. More than once Dawn returned from hunting to find them barricaded inside the cave while two to four coyotes prowled about outside. She would drop whatever she had caught to fight them off, often losing her game to another coyote who had laid hidden waiting for such an opportunity.

The only relief from her toils was through Black, who spent whatever time he had outdoors studying the valley and its occupants. He learned that the ravens gave a certain call to bring their relatives to the site of a dead animal and by following the birds he was sometimes able to find a carcass that still had some meat on it.

One day in mid-winter when he was out playing with the icicles that hung from the cliff he saw a number of the black birds winging it down the slope toward the lake, which was starting to freeze over. He followed and discovered a freshly dead mule deer. The stocky deer had ventured out onto the ice and broken through where it was thinner in the middle. It had drowned before making it back to shore. Black had wandered much farther away from the den than he should when he was alone but something about the scene made him think, so he lingered for a time before rushing back to get the others.

They feasted for a week off that deer, but Black still got his ear twisted for going out alone. Still, the image of the deer surrounded by broken ice ticked the back of his brain.

Well fed for a change, Black occupied himself by playing. He played with Rascal when his brother was in the mood but lately the larger cub just wanted to fight. Black could hardly walk twenty paces without being tackled by his heavier sibling, and his skin was turning as black as his fur from the bruising.

After the deer meat was gone they were back to sucking on hides and chewing on pine boughs to survive.

Dawn knew that they would not survive the winter with just her to provide for the family. She left the den on a clear cold night, the kind of night where sound can travel almost forever, and she climbed the cliff above their home until she could see the tops of the surrounding mountains. There was hardly a breeze, and the steam from her breath refroze on her muzzle as she contemplated the night. Then, taking a lungful of cold air she threw her head back and howled as loud as she could.

It was a lonely howl, a desperate howl. The howl of a wolf in desperate need. But it also held a note of promise, a hint of wild hunts and cozy nights. It was the mating howl, but not the kind given by virgin females lusting for a mate. It was a fuller, more textured and mature sound, one that spoke of her skill as a hunter and success as a breeder. One that only the strongest and most talented wolves should answer. One that said “Seek me, if you dare".

After howling for a time she paused and listened, but she did not hear any reply.

Each night that the air was right Dawn returned to the crest of the cliff and repeated her invitation. Just when she thought that she was getting to weak to continue coming back she caught the barest trace of what could be a reply. The next night it was clearer, and on the third it was closer. Her suiter was coming to her. All she need do was guide him to her.

Dawn called out encouragement to the stranger. She wondered briefly if she was doing the right thing, but no matter what this wolf was like she would take him in and mate with him because her cubs depended on it.

She returned to the cliff top the next night to send another guiding howl. It was answered immediately. The stranger's howl spoke of his strength and skill with honour and pride, but without a trace of vanity, and that bode well.

He howled that he would be with her before the sun set the next day. Dawn responded with a description of the cliff where she wanted to meet him. The rendezvous set, they both fell silent. He to conserve his energy for the final trek and she to contemplate her future.

The next day, after another unsuccessful hunt, Dawn sent her cubs into the den with instructions to barricade the entrance and not to open it for anyone but her. Then she made her way slowly to the top of the cliff to wait for her suiter.

The sun was still two hand widths above the horizon when she heard him approach. He was breathing heavily, more heavily than a healthy male should even in this rough terrain. She raised her spear cautiously, afraid that he might be a sick wolf exiled from his pack. If so she would have to fight him, even in her weakened condition, least he infect her and her cubs.

She heaved a sigh of relief when he shuffled into sight. The reason for his exhaustion was because he was carrying a big horn sheep fully as large as himself slung over his shoulder. She wondered how he managed to lug the carcass up here, and how he managed to kill one by himself in the first place.

He was walking with his head down and had not seen her yet. Dawn grunted to make her presence known. The tired wolf stopped, looked up and grinned when he saw her standing there holding her spear out defensively.

“Do you intend to kill me and steal my sheep?" He asked, the humour in his tone evident despite his gasping for as much of the thin air as he could get down.

Dawn lowered her spear and found herself smiling in return. “Sorry. A mother has to be cautious."

The stranger dropped his sheep to the ground and sat on it. “How many?"

“Four." She kept the age and sex of her cubs to herself for now. There were things she still needed to know before inviting the stranger to share her den; his name, for example.

“I am called Dawn." She said, displaying the lighter streaks of fur above her dark undercoat.

He turned to show that the fur in his back was dark except for a half circle of blonde hair at the base of his tail. “Then we make a set. My sires called me Sundown."

“A set? We are opposites."

“Male and female are opposites, opposites that make a set, a set that is stronger than the two individuals."

“You are wise, for your years." She said, because he appeared no older than her. “You are old to be wandering though."

Sundown hung his head. “I had a mate. She was called Breeze for the way the wind made her long silky fur dance." He looked up at the sky and paused, lost in thought for a moment. Then he looked back to Dawn. “The snows came early to our valley this year and they hung over our den like a looming white bear. Our Alpha thinks that a warm spell after those storms weakened the snow pack. Dawn was searching for firewood under the cliff when it broke free. It ... it was seven or eight wolves deep where we think she was, but .... but she could have just as easily been sweep down the mountain into the river." He stopped and hung his head again as his voice cracked. “She was pregnant with our first cubs. There were no other eligible females so I thought it was best to leave before ... before the snow melted this spring."

Dawn stuck her spear in the soft soil back from the cliff edge and joined Sundown on the sheep carcass. She rubbed his heaving shoulders and waited until he had calmed his breathing before speaking.

“This is an impressive kill." She said patting the sheep's flank. “Your pack must be sad to lose such a mighty hunter."

Sundown laughed, his mood broken, and the sun shone from his eyes as he did. “This was more accident than skill. I saw it grazing on a narrow ledge below me and I dropped a rock on it. I hit it square on the head more by chance than skill, but that didn't kill it. It wandered about, teetering from one side to the other with its eyes crossed before missing a step and tumbling off the ledge. It landed face first on the rock a stone's throw below and that killed it. I though it would make a fine offering, but I wish you had arranged a meeting somewhere ... lower." His eyes twinkled as he spoke.

Dawn felt the corners of her mouth pull up. She put a hand to the side of his face. “Breeze must have been a beautiful wolf to attract a mate as good as you."

“She was. As beautiful as you but," he circled her thin wrist with two of his fingers, “a little better fed than you." Then his expression turned serious. “But she did not have the air of command that you do. You have the scent of an Alpha on you."

Dawn recounted her story for Sundown and he listened attentively. She concluded by revealing the age and sex of her cubs.

“You have the beginnings of a nice little pack here." Sundown commented.

“Yes. And if you stay you will have status as my mate."

Sundown do not miss the hint of threat in the way her ruff bristled slightly. “I understand. You are the Alpha of these cubs and all their offspring by right of heritage and through your actions to preserve them. I will stand by your side but you will always be first, until I earn the right to claim equal status. Even with our cubs, should we have any."

Dawn let her hand drop to his thigh, a very strong thigh. “Oh, we will. But one question, what is the way of breeding rights in the pack you came from?"

“As with your father, our Alpha did not claim breeding rights for himself alone. He welcomed wanderers in and let us choose our mates. I feel the same way."

Dawn stood and held a hand out to him. “Let's go down and meet the cubs."

“My pleasure." He said as he allowed her to help him up on his tired legs. “But there is one thing we need to settle first."

One of her eyebrows went up. “Oh?"

“Yes." He turned to look down on the heavy sheep carcass. “You taking the front or the back?"

* * * * * *

Doctor Cheng switched off the feed from wolf 212's collar camera because the swaying motion as she and her new mate carried the carcass downhill was making her dizzy. She continued to use the drone time allocated to her project to follow their progress from a distance though and would re-engage 212'2 camera when they reached the den.

A chime from the console told her that she was not the only one watching the wolves. Calling up the log-in screen se saw that Doctor Dupuis had just signed in. She clicked the call button beside his name and is face filled the screen.

“Robert, how is your flight home? I thought that they would have put you sleep by now."

“No, no. I'm still wide awake. There has been some news from the FEC Science Council; good news I hope."

“Oh, what did they have to say?"

“I'm being promoted when I get back to Toronto. I'll be the co-chair of the council."

“Robert! That is wonderful news, especially for this project."

“Now, don't get too comfortable, Mary. The other co-chair is Roscoe Binks."

“Binks? But he's not a scientist. His Colonies-First party is very much anti-science."

“You should leave your wolves and tune in to the news feed more often Mary. The recent elections were very close, forcing the ruling Liberal Planet Party to form a coalition in order to keep power. The C-F party holds the balance of power in the Federation Parliament now. The LPP holds most of the Cabinet positions but they had to give the C-F a few choice appointments to get them into the coalition. Their Deputy leader, Binks, chose the Science Council; God knows why. The LPP agreed as long as they got a real scientist as the co-chair, me, to be precise."

Mary considered the news. The C-F was against spending FEC tax dollars outside of the main core of colony planets. That included the restoration of Earth and any of the ancillary projects like the one she was currently assigned to.

“Robert, do you think that he will go after our funding?"

“He may, but there are bigger fish to fry, the Intergalactic probes, for example."

Mary knew he was right about that. The search for life in other galaxies had a budget in the trillions and an entire space station at its disposal. The Wolf project, on the other hand, used very little in the way of resources, her salary and the cost of keeping her on Earth being the main ones. The project owned several spare collars but not the helicopter that was used to deploy them. Even the drones they used were on time share with the ecological company that was contracted to clean up this portion of the planet. Earth Observation Station was a misnomer, she thought, Regional Dump and Processing Site would be a more accurate description of the station's main activity.

“I'm getting a lot of good data, Robert. 212 has just accepted a disperser as her new mate. I need to verify some of the language, but he looks like he will be a good surrogate father to her cubs. That means the Mist Valley pack will live on, now with DNA from the Howling Gorge pack. It will be interesting to see what he makes of her in-house boiling technique, and what he thinks of that black wolf. There is something different about that cub, I can feel it."

There was a few seconds of silence and she was afraid that the connection between the station and the spacecraft speeding back to the colonies had been broken but the senior scientist's voice came back finally, crisp and clear.

“Mary, don't take this the wrong way, but you have to be careful. While the project is popular with school children there is a growing movement that see intelligent wolves as a threat to the human race."

“What? That is ridiculous! Even with their accelerated evolution they will never get out of the Stone Age; there is no more metal left to mine, and no oil, gas or coal to melt what scraps we left behind that they may dig up. How could they ever become a threat?"

“By being exported. Some wolf lovers want them brought out to the colonies where they can 'reap the benefit of their creator's civilization' while the radicals want them to be breed as soldiers and sent to the non-aligned planets to force them back into the FEC. Both sides see the others outcome as a threat. The C-F is playing on both sides fears and has proposed that they should be sterilized, the wolves as well as the other species showing signs of anthropomorphic development, so they die out before taking over the origin planet."

Mary felt tears coming to her eyes, wishing that she had not engaged the video link between them.

“Robert, that's ... that's ...."

“Yes, monstrous, I know. But take heart, part of the deal is that Binks can't assume his position until I get back to my planet and that will take three years. You have until then to collect as much data as you can. But again, I caution you not to get to close to your subjects. Don't give Binks an excuse to claim that your views are prejudiced. Spread the resources around the packs. And Mary ..."

“Yes?"

“The C-F is known for infiltrating it's enemies. Be careful who you associate with down there."

Based on The rise of Black Wolf

Produced by National Geographic Television, © 2010 NGHT LLC