Kniam: A Terraneu Novel (2 page)

Amber groaned and struggled to open her eyes and look around. What had
happened? The last thing she remembered was sliding down the hill. She must
have hit her head or something. With another groan she got to her feel. She had
to have been lying there for a long time, because it was much warmer now than
when she had left the B&B. Turning in a circle to get her bearings, she
wondered at the lack of snow on the ground. Shrugging over that oddity she
started walking along hoping she would come across a path eventually.

She hadn’t been trudging along for very long when she decided to rest.
Looking around, she found what looked like a nice tree stump to sit on. Making
her way over, she gingerly climbed onto the fallen log, and sat down her eyes
sweeping around taking in her surroundings. A few moments of rest was enough,
with a jump she landed on the other side of the log.

She tried to take a step forward, and realized she was stuck. When she
looked down at her feet, she saw what could only be described as a pool of
liquid mercury. It was like silver quicksand, except instead of her sinking
down, the fluid was moving up her legs. She tried to step out of it, but she
was stuck in place. She started struggling harder as the liquid made it to her
thighs. Reaching down she tried to push at it with her hands. This turned out
to be a mistake, now she was stuck bent over, with her hands in the goo. It
rapidly reached her chest, then moved over her face. She wanted to open her
mouth to scream, but was afraid it would choke her. Instead she held her
breath. When it became too much to bear, she took in a huge lungful of air. The
relief was instant that she was able to breathe through whatever this substance
was. Then it started to expand and shrink at the same time. It was going
outward, but also down, so that she ended up kneeling on her hands and knees.
Then her little pod started to float and she could look around a bit better at
where she was. The surrounding hillside was very similar to what you would find
in the Highlands, but this bubble she was now stuck in wasn’t something you
would find in Scotland. Then she looked up.

Her thoughts started spinning around in her head, bouncing around until
she was almost sick. You couldn’t clearly see other planets from Earth, and
definitely not four of them. A little hysterically she said, “I don’t think I’m
in Scotland anymore!” then she started laughing. She laughed so hard her sides
hurt. When her laughter finally quieted down she realized she was about treetop
level off the ground, and she was able to hear a steady beeping noise. Like an
emergency transponder it just kept on beeping.

Amber didn’t know how long she was in the little bubble when she picked
up a faint humming sound. It got louder and louder as she apprehensively looked
around. She picked up what looked like a large bug on the horizon, then it got
closer and she realized it was a miniature aircraft of some sort, almost like a
drone she had seen on television. It came right over her bubble and didn’t even
slow down, as some large hook thing came out of the bottom, and just dragged
her along with it. At first she was terrified her bubble was going to pop…then
she stared around in shock and realized she wasn’t the only thing being strewn
along.

She had never seen anything like what was in the other bubbles. There was
a cat-like prehistoric saber toothed thingy. It was huge, about the size of a
lioness, and it was NOT happy...scratching, clawing and biting at its bubble.
If that beast couldn’t break out, she wasn’t going anywhere. There were also
little fluff balls that looked really helpless…until they accidentally bumped
into her bubble. Going into a frenzy they attached themselves with a mouthful
of teeth to the inside of their container. YIKES. Ok, note to self: not so
helpless fluff balls!

Finally her container slowed down and started a decent into what looked
like a camp. There were colorful tents, strange cages filled with all kinds of
animal life, and even stranger two-legged “Insectoid” creatures. They looked
like giant upright walking ants. It was a really good thing she was a sci-fi
fan because she had
seen
weirder things on television and movies. She
had never experienced anything like this, and maybe she felt a little crazy…but
at least she was able to hold it together. This was either a really weird
dream, or a really crazy adventure. When she got closer to their camp, her
bubble was suddenly placed over one of the cages, and one of the Ant creatures
pointed a hand-held device at it and POP. Into the cage she dropped landing on
her extra cushioned bottom. Ouch, that was going to leave a bruise!

Amber immediately jumped up and started yelling, “I demand to see your
leader!” Nobody paid attention and really that never worked in the movies
either. How about...“You need to let me out of this cage, I’m an American
citizen!” She had to laugh at that one. She didn’t think these creatures cared
about Americans. Hmmmm. “You are breaking a lot of
intergalalactic
laws
you know. You could go to jail for a long time!” She was just yelling to get it
all out. They weren’t paying any attention to her, and she knew there wasn’t
anything she said that was going to get her out of this mess. The Ant men were
going cage by cage, doing some weird thing with what looked like an iPad or
tablet. When they got to her cage they pointed that same device that had popped
her bubble, and it started to get colder. She was suddenly glad for the hoodie,
coat, boots and scarf even if they were a mess.

No matter how much she talked, or gestured the Ant people never made any
attempts to communicate. The saber cat was on her left snarling and yowling,
and the fluffy, fuzz balls were on her right making an equal racket but with a
strange growling noise. So it wasn’t a total surprise that they were ignoring
her. After all the turmoil of the day, Amber realized how tired she was and
couldn't stay awake any longer. She slid down the cage until she rested on her
bottom, she could almost see small puffs of air and wondered if they were going
to freeze her to death? Letting out a small sob she snuggling as deep into her
ratty mess of a coat, secured her scarf to get warmer, and fell asleep crying
softly to herself. Ok so maybe watching Sci-fi hadn’t stopped her from being a
bit freaked out.

Amber awoke to some loud clicking from the Ant people. She sat up and
checked to make sure her hoodie, coat and scarf were still on. It was so cold
she tucked her hands into the mittens offered by the hoodie, even though it
didn’t cover them entirely. She looked around sleepily, then jerked wide-awake.
The Ants had been joined by a group of Humanoids, and her heart leapt in her
throat! These newcomers looked entirely human! Maybe they were a bit taller and
more muscular than she was used to seeing outside of a gym...but human. The one
who she assumed was the leader, was talking to the Ant people and gesturing at
them. He turned and gestured to the other humanoids he was with, and they also
moved around the camp. He was very tall with dark hair. His clothing was some
type of black material. He had some sort of open vest for a top, black pants,
and utilitarian black boots.

She scrambled up from her sitting position in the cage, which was a big
mistake. She didn't realize that one foot had been tucked under the other and
was completely asleep. She hopped and cursed at the familiar pins and needles
sensation, at the same time she was trying to see what was going on in camp.

 
"Hello? Over here, can you
see me?" She yelled at the top of her lungs, but didn't get any response
from either the Ants or the newcomer. They were busy walking from cage to cage.
The leader of the Ant people, was showing the computer tablet thing to one of
the newcomers. The Ant was gesturing wildly and pointing to the cages and then
the tablet. The newcomer finally got to her cage and she thought this had to be
her chance. With him standing right in front of her, he had to see that she was
like him.

Fierce purple eyes, regarded her for only a second before the Ant man
joined him with the tablet. They both stared at her, then looked at the tablet
again. The Ant man made some clicking sounds, and the newcomer just shook his
head. The clicking got louder, and then both of them walked away gesturing at
the other cages.
 
Hold on a minute,
"Hey come back here! You need to let me out of this cage." She
started to hit the side of the pen, and yelled "I need a bath...and some
food...and to use the facilities!" She let out a growl of frustration,
obviously this was getting her nowhere.

She had just turned back to sit down when the tall, dark one turned and
pointed to the saber cat, the fluff balls...and her. Without another glance, he
joined his fellows from around the camp. An Ant man suddenly appeared and
pointed a device at her cage, which started to float along the ground. The
saber cat, fluffy fur balls, and her cage were lined up next to a large tent at
the side of the camp that she hadn't paid any attention to before. "Mr.
Hotty" as she decided to name the leader, was at the front of the tent,
pointing at cages and checking against Ant mans tablet. A cage would be pushed
into the tent, there was a loud buzzing...then the next cage would be pushed
in. When it became her turn she started yelling, "Now just a damn minute!
You are not putting me into whatever this tent thing is holding!" Her cage
floated forward..."Are you listening to me? I said no, dammit! I've had it
with you..." her voice cut off as her cage entered the tent and she saw a
raised platform.
 
She floated over it,
and started screaming, "I mean ..." too late. Her cage vanished, and
in the next second she felt the pressure and the vortex feeling of being
flushed. The high-speed flashes of light were going past her body but the
feeling of not really moving was there too. Blackness took her…again.

Kniam made sure that all of his people had returned from the Antilles
camp before turning the port pad to stand-by. He had been disappointed with the
offerings this week. There was the usual Sacath’s, Gnowler’s, and Sea Eluth’s.
The only truly new creature the Antilles had found was some kind of primate. It
had been jumping around in its cage screeching and growling. He had hopes that
it would be the answer they were desperately looking for. With one cycle of
viable eggs left, his people had almost given up hope. It was going to fall on
him to find an answer, or all would be lost. He could almost be mad at the
leaders that came before him, except he was their clone…so could you be mad at yourself?
He guessed you could, since he had all the memories made by “himself” for the
last ten cycles or so. They had lost about five cycles of memories since they
had to work on getting the cloning process accurate enough to transplant the
memories. The first five cycles of life here on Terraneu were only archived,
and frankly hard to understand. The ones in his head he was able to access
since they felt like dreams, sometimes they even became more pronounced. The
only reason they still implanted all seven council members with their
predecessor’s memories, was so that each leader could learn from and hopefully
not repeat the previous ones mistakes. All other community members were only
implanted with their prior work details, it saved on learning new skills that
way.

He walked with a sure stride to the caging area door. With a touch of a
panel he went from the porting dome, to the caging dome. All of the buildings
in their compound had eight walls, twelve feet long to make a perfect octagonal
shape with about 700 sq. ft. of useable space inside. The walls could be
removed, doors widened, computer consoles added/removed. It was a very
functional system.

He was currently in the Square of Four, at the very center of their
community. It held the medical, technology, port and caging domes. These four
were built by the original fathers, and were the only domes in an enclosed
wall. The “Square” as they called it was also the only space that was guarded,
and gate access was the only way in or out.

The rest of the living quarters and industrial domes were all spaced out
in “rings” radiating out from the Square. They had left space in between each
ring to allow for personal balconies and landscaping. They had also made four
larger, twenty-foot wide travel paths going from the center of each wall.
Walking paths were also placed, five feet wide in front of each ring, and
behind each ring to make an interconnected space. The hexagonal domes were
broken into “zones”. They were NW, SW, SE, and NE. The first ring had five living
pods or domes in each zone. The second ring had nine, the third had thirteen,
and the fourth had seventeen and so on. The current population needs required
only six zones. So if you were requested to go to R4-NW5, you would find the
dome you were looking for in the fourth ring, in the NW zone, number 5
position. It was easy to maximize usage of space, and shut down a zone if
population needs didn’t require its use.

After leaving the porting dome, which in the Square would be the SW-1 and
walking into the caging area, (SE-1) Kniam’s mind snapped back to the primate
specimen that had been found. It had been entertaining to see it jump around in
the cage. Maybe it would make a good pet if it didn’t have compatible DNA.

“Kniam, I see you are back from off-world! It's good to see you brother!”
Knollig gave him a small bow, then they clasped forearms as was the customary
greeting. “How was Antilles? I have moved all the specimens to cages for you.
That primate has a really foul smell to it, and the nastiest fur I have every
seen. It is completely covered in muck and leaves.”

Kniam sighed and turned back to look at the cages that were lined against
one wall. The caging area was attached to the medical unit. That way they were
able to get DNA and move the specimens back to their cages. Depending on the
need, the creatures they captured were either kept here for training, if
possible domestication…or returned to Antilles. They didn’t believe in torture
or harm coming to the animals.

“The primate is the only interesting thing from this expedition, its
smell and cleanliness aside.” Kniam paused, “I did pick out a female Sacath,
the others chose some also, but mine is a prime specimen. Either way I am
hoping Cebat will choose a mate from one of them.”

 
“Poor Cebat, he still hasn’t
picked out a mate in all these cycles?” Knollig let out a chuckle, “He must be
destroying your domicile in his frustration.”

“No…and yes. He is being unusually picky about choosing a mate, and very
destructive of everything! I feel sorry for Kneus…I had him watching Cebat for
me while I was off-world.”

They both turned to study the cages lined along the walls, “I think I
will process the primate first, before it wakes up.” With that Kniam walked
forward to grab a collar and chain from a storage unit, and then proceeded to
the primate’s cage. “Can you get Kneus for me? I have tried a mind connection,
but I am still tired from the transfer and don’t have enough energy to reach
him. Oh, and ask him to let Cebat out to wander. He will come to my home when
he is ready since I am sure he smells I am back by now.”

“Sure. I can do that for you. There is something I need to check on first
and will be right back I can inform Kneus along the way.” Knollig went to the
door, and since the caging area was always on lock-down he had to press his
hand to the bio-metric lock to exit.

With Knollig gone, Kniam moved to the cage that held the primate and
unlocked the door.