Mammoth Dawn (13 page)

He knows Gregor is behind it, but since the Senator is herself cooperating, he has no recourse by normal means to stop it. He has been disgraced, the mammoths given a death sentence anyway, and he no longer has any credibility in the public eye. Alex doesn’t understand what forces are being arrayed against him, but he must find some way to stop the destruction of everything he has worked for. Arming themselves, putting on survival gear, Alex and Cassie go together into the Pleistocene wilderness.

O O O

Next morning, under gloomy gray skies and a freshening wind that whips stinging ice particles into the air, the hunters set out with a party atmosphere.

Some of the hunters show off their bravado, but Gregor knows this is deadly serious. Brainstorming like men at a corporate board meeting, the hunters have developed a plan to surround the animals and cut off a few members. But as they proceed with their scheme, the men have no real experience, and the hunt rapidly begins to go wrong. (This will be an ironic counterpoint to the dramatized Pleistocene hunt in the prologue.)

Psyk, the only truly competent hunter in the group (other than Gregor), rushes in among the mammoths with his spear. Psyk himself is pumped up on the wild fern-drug. He feels he is part of the forest, connected with the mammoths. He seems completely separate from the rest of the sportsmen, focused on his prey, just like the old ways, just like he has experienced in his visions. Psyk selects his target, ignoring the shouts, the other running people.

He has a deep spiritual link with this great beast. The spear is hard and strong in his hand. He comes forward, bends back his arm, and
knows
where and when to throw. His weapon strikes true, deep into the vulnerable neck. The mammoth bellows and falls. Psyk knows this is the way the hunt must be—not a rich man’s game, but a communion.

But the inexperienced hunters only panic the remaining beasts. Even as Psyk’s kill falls to the snowy, trampled meadow, a flurry of misplaced spears flies all over the place, missing targets, bouncing off of thick woolly hides. The rest of the mammoths rally in a surprisingly organized fashion and begin to stampede
toward
the hunters, not away.

In the total chaos, most of the puny humans dodge into a dense stand of trees—safe, but humiliated. Psyk, though, gets separated from the group (not entirely by accident, since he’s reveling in this). He stays behind in the wild.

O O O

Dusk. Back in camp, scared and confused and full of second thoughts, some of the big-game hunters want to pull out. This is too much! Hector Chu wants to take their modern weapons, go back to kick some mammoth butt.

But night is falling, and the storm worsens. The hunters bed down in comfort, though they remain restless. Not caring about appearances, especially not in this bunch, Sylvia Chesney shares her tent and sleeping bag with Gregor.

Then, out of the thickening blizzard come the mammoths, marching with an eerie intelligence. The big animals know where the poachers are and seem to understand that these humans are the enemy. In the last Ice Age, mammoths and humans co-evolved, learning how to survive against each other, and these newly resurrected specimens have some of those ancient instincts.

Gregor gets out of the tent just before the big beasts smash the equipment (including their communications equipment and locators). The Senator suffers a broken wrist and a deep gash to her thigh. Hector Chu is tangled up in his sleeping bag. Some of the more cool-headed hunters scramble through the smashed and scattered equipment, searching for weapons. Gregor and Uruk Bey light torches and drive the mammoths back with the bright fire.

The damage done, the behemoths rumble off into the darkness.

O O O

In the aftermath of the attack, with their camp in ruins, Gregor tries to figure out what to do. His affair with Sylvia has touched him more deeply than he expected. He goes to her tent to make her more comfortable and overhears her talking on a secret transmitter demanding an immediate pickup:

“The response team has got to come in and make the strike now. I know we’ve got the Evos in place, but they’re fuckups—can’t count on them at all. No, I don’t care about the blizzard!”

Gregor hears a military voice answer her: “The aircraft and assault teams will arrive first thing in the morning, if the skies are clear. Kinsman has been requesting backup too—” She loses control and shouts into her mike, “Forget them! They’ve botched enough simple tasks already.”

Gregor suddenly understands—
Sylvia
is the force behind the Evos, who have been violent gadflies against Alex’s work all along. Previously, he knew and supported her plans to grab the Resurrection Preserve, but he did not suspect the extent of her machinations.

When he confronts her, Sylvia kisses him and admits that she has long intended to close down the politically unpopular Resurrection Preserve, championing an issue big enough to keep herself in the news. In addition, if she can confiscate Helyx’s assets, it will be a multibillion-dollar prize! She was using the Clean Genes activists, of course, but the Federal forces she is calling in were another suit in her hand.

Although Sylvia has been in cahoots with him, Gregor always believed that
he
was using
her
. Now he wonders just how far she will go.

O O O

After the mammoth attack, the big-game hunters tensely wait for daylight.

With the first light of dawn, Zach is dispatched on their lone snow-skimmer to fetch help from Gregor’s estate. He takes an assault rifle for protection.

Hector Chu proudly reveals that he has hidden a powerful Magnum pistol inside his warm jacket. That should be enough firepower to protect them until the Senator’s military help can pick them up.

Gregor looks around the damaged camp, and a cold smile crosses his face. He takes one of the spears and gathers his warm clothes, gloves, boots, hunting knife. Sensing the testosterone in the air, Uruk Bey asks him what he is doing. Gregor says, “I came to hunt a mammoth. I intend to do it.”

O O O

Approaching the hunters’ encampment, Cassie and Alex know that these people are their enemies. They look with some satisfaction at what the mammoths have done. “We’ve got some unexpected Pleistocene allies,” she says, then sees Zach depart on his snowskimmer.

Alex sees Gregor leaving on his own, obsessed with his hunt. Alex considers the Siberian godfather to be the root of all his problems. Scowling, he tells Cassie to head off Zach farther down the trail and enlist his aid out of sight of the other hunters. Meanwhile, he intends to face Gregor—alone.

Moving through the trees, Cassie races to intercept Zach on his way to the Preserve’s central compound. She almost makes it in time. As Zach passes, Cassie tries to get his attention, but with the humming engine, he can’t hear her shout. As he departs, Cassie stands with her hands on her hips, wondering what to do now. Then she hears a sound behind her and turns to confront a pack of hungry dire wolves. The predators have stalked and cornered her, and there are far too many of them for the few bullets she has in her rifle.

Cassie starts shooting.

O O O

Separated from the other Evos by the storm, Kinsman is ready to accomplish a lot on his own. From high ground, looking down at the agitated mammoth herd, he thinks about how much he hates the beasts. He has despised Helyx for bringing back extinct misfits that have no business in the modern world … and he hates Alex for ruining his career. He takes out his powerful new weapons—given to him by Senator Chesney’s friends in high places.

Kinsman starts shooting at the mammoths below. He puts several down with explosive rounds and wounds many more of the animals. He keeps firing. It feels right—just as it did back in Montana.

And then he sees a much more gratifying target.…

O O O

Out in the snowy forests, close to the mammoth herd, Alex meets up with Gregor Galaev. He is furious at what the Siberian has done. The slaughter of the first mammoth and now this reckless hunt. The two men stand in the open, both knowing that they have always been meant to settle the issue this way—not with lawyers and memos and board meetings, but here, in a primitive state.

In the howling wind, both men want blood. They circle each other, flinging accusations. Though both are leaders, used to directing others to do the dangerous jobs, neither man is a warrior. Alex uses his fists, and the fight worsens. They roll down a steep slope, crack through the ice in a shallow, half-frozen stream. Alex and Gregor come up drenched and freezing, but with knives at each other’s throats. Alex curses Gregor for what he has done to the wonderful Resurrection work, to the dream his wife Helen had.

Gregor in turn accuses Alex of bringing the ruin down upon himself—for being blind to the public, never thinking of the consequences of his work, just loving it for its own sake. They could have had a wonderful preserve, restoring extinct animals, maintaining the Library of Earth, allowing an occasional hunt to make the preserve profitable—all possible, if only Alex had been more careful!

Then they hear gunshots. The mammoth herd bellows. They watch as several of the beasts are taken down. “You and your damned hunters!” Alex cries. Gregor sees the shooter—Kinsman—and says, “That’s not one of them.”

Then Kinsman spots them and opens fire, high-caliber, explosive bullets chewing up the snow and trees around them. Alex and Gregor run for cover.

O O O

Zach Browder, on his way for help, hears Cassie’s rifle shots behind him.

He spins his skimmer around, spraying snow, and races back to investigate. He comes upon Cassie cornered by the dire wolves. They are circling, harrying her. Three wolves are already dead, but she is running out of ammunition. Her left side has been clawed and torn, bleeding.

Zach doesn’t say a word. He loves this woman, despite all the pain she has caused him. He comes in on his snow-skimmer, scatters some of the wolves, then climbs off the vehicle, taking out his rifle and shooting several more. While the dire wolves regroup, he urges Cassie to get on the vehicle. The wolves come in again, snarling, full of fangs.

Moving slowly because of her injury, Cassie climbs onto the snow-skimmer. Zach shoots another wolf, but two more jump onto his back, bearing him down. The other wolves mob him. Cassie tries to shoot, but her rifle is out of ammunition. Two wolves leap at her, and she swings her rifle, smacking one wolf in the muzzle with the stock.

Zach is already dead. She has no choice but to streak away on the snow-skimmer, her arms stiff, her entire body tensed and clenched.

The dire wolves howl after her in the forest.

O O O

At the wrecked camp, the wounded Sylvia Chesney waits with Hector Chu. The Chinese businessman holds his magnum like a crucifix to ward off vampires, as if the very sight of it will scare away predators.

A small group of sabretooths approaches the camp, stalking them. The Senator is sure that they can smell the blood from her injuries. Seeing the flash of tawny fur, the rippling panther-like bodies, Hector Chu fires his magnum—and the recoil bowls him over into the snow. The bullet hits a tree trunk ten feet from his target, but the sabretooth bolts anyway.

The Senator knows the animals will be back. She is cold and in pain and very surly. “What an ass!” She looks at the Chinese businessman. “Haven’t you fired that thing before?” Hector confesses that he hasn’t.

O O O

Out in the snow, Gregor and Alex—unlikely allies now—try to deal with Kinsman, who has turned back to slaughtering the mammoths. Alex has a score to settle with Kinsman. Gregor understands what they both need to do.

“We are fools,” he says. Alex nods. “You bet.”

Though the blizzard has abated somewhat, the snow is still coming down. Wary now, the mammoths smell the approaching humans and grow very alert. They have already attacked the encampment and now they are agitated, defending their turf against these new hunters.

The mammoths demonstrate advanced cooperative behavior—a clear sign that they could adapt to human hunting patterns, but were made extinct by a combination of climate changes, diseases, and human hunting. Some of the beasts take up defensive positions, while other herd members begin to search for a way up the steep hill, to where the sniper is hidden.

Kinsman is so focused on the odd behavior of the mammoths that Alex and Gregor are able to sneak up behind him in the blizzard. Working together, Alex distracts the terrorist. As Kinsman stands up to shoot at him, Gregor smacks him with a tree branch, disarming the man.

Holding the weapon on him, Alex knows that the Evos were not acting independently. Kinsman confesses that Senator Chesney was giving him orders.

They are suddenly startled when several mammoths crash into the clearing, stalking the sniper, not discriminating among the humans. Kinsman uses the diversion to bolt into the thickening snowstorm, while Alex and Gregor also flee.

O O O

Psyk looks like a wild man now after the violent mammoth hunt and then spending the night out in the forest. He remembers hunting with his son Nikolai. In one of the snowy bogs, he cracks the thin film of ice to get at the tender nubs of growing ferns beneath. He eats the psychotropic ferns raw, chewing slowly, feeling the drug suffuse his body. A Pleistocene high.

O O O

Barely able to see ahead of him in the thick falling snow, Kinsman runs. His breath comes in gasps. He hopes he can link up with the rest of the Evos. If he can arrange to leave with Sylvia’s response team secretly backing them, he’ll go into hiding. Since he got off from the murder and mayhem at the Montana mammoth ranch, why should this be any different?

He checks his map, taking bearings via a global positioning satellite. He is not worried … until he discovers that he is in a wind-whipped meadow among giant shadowy shapes, hulking woolly behemoths with enormous curved tusks. He has blundered into the middle of the mammoths he was shooting.

The huge bulls twitch their trunks, touching the big mounds of carcasses—the animals Kinsman has slain. The mammoths know he is there. They stand eerily silent, like totems in the blizzard. But as they begin to shift and form a circle, he realizes they have surrounded him. Intentionally.