SWEET HOME ALLE BAMMA (SOLBIDYUM WARS SAGA) (31 page)

With the
ALI
safely hidden we were ready to venture forth into the jungle and begin our search for ruguian eggs.  As soon as we opened the hatch we were hit by a wave of hot moist air.  Our sensor reading showed CO
2
levels that were somewhat higher than inside the ship and a humidity level of 98%.  Almost instantly we began to perspire and our clothing stuck to our skin.  The air was filled with the familiar rich scent associated with a damp forest or greenhouse full of plants.  Numerous squeaks, chirps, whistles and buzzes could be heard coming from the jungle around us as various creatures called for mates, heralded our presence, or communicated whatever other message their noises may have represented.  We wore standard body armor at Kerabac’s suggestion “for protection from the jungle itself,” as he put it.  He explained that there were several species of large plants with long sharp thorns that could be launched up to five meters like an arrow or projectile for the purpose of killing any creature in its path.  The plants then derived nourishment from the decaying carcasses as the nutrients seeped into the ground.  Other thorned plants didn’t release their thorns but instead had rows of them attached to long spring-like branches that tripped on contact, whipping outward and impaling anything in their range.  The armored leggings would protect us from such plants, as well as smaller animals that might try to bite us, though Hotyona insisted that it was very unlikely anything smaller than a drodoceal was likely to attack.

A’Lappe had told us before we left the
NEW ORLEANS
that he would require nearly 500 grams of ruguian eggs to produce the anti-toxin; but it would be unlikely we would find more than a few grams at a time; so we were both surprised and elated when we discovered a small 50-gram gelatinous blue mass under the fronds of a giant fern shortly after leaving the ship.  Hotyona confirmed that they were indeed ruguian eggs and placed them in a small stasis container and began searching the surrounding area for more.  However, several hours of searching proved futile.  Other than the ruguian tracks in the mud that led away from the site, there was no sign of more ruguians or eggs.

One problem we encountered was that our navigational tools failed to work properly, most likely because of the
I’aban trees.  It was only when we were out from under this grove into an area where the canopy was not laced with minerals and metals that we were able to obtain a clear signal and get our bearings.  I asked Kerabac about the devices and how they were able to triangulate without satellites.  He explained that the instruments were designed to read the radio signatures of various stars and compute the exact location of anything on the surface from a combination of these signatures, much like the navigation systems on the
ALI
, the
NEW ORLEANS
and other ships, only on a smaller scale.

It was mid
-afternoon when we landed and began our search; and before we knew it, evening was upon us.  Darkness descended quickly under the canopy and the sounds of life in the jungle around us grew louder as we made our way back to the ship.  I didn’t realize just how comfortable the ship’s interior could be, until the door was sealed and the environment filters adjusted the CO
2
, humidity and temperature levels to simulate the atmosphere that we were accustomed to inhabiting.  Kerabac and I fared much better than Hotyona.  The sweltering conditions on Alle Bamma were quite similar to those of the swamps where I grew up; and Kerabac had been to Alle Bamma before and knew what to expect.  Hotyona, on the other hand, had not bothered to drink much water, so he was quite dehydrated and feeling poorly by the end of the day.  However, after slowly drinking a liter and a half of water and eating a delicious bowl of some kind of stew that Kerabac brought from the synthesizer, he seemed to recover and feel normal once more.

Originally we planned to drop off two of the team and return the
ALI
to an orbit above the meet point until the
NEW ORLEANS
arrived; but the fact that we could not keep the ship cloaked for more than a few hours at a time convinced us that it would be better to keep the ship on the surface and hidden in the jungle.

On our second day out we didn’t find any
ruguian eggs, but we did come across a ruguian.  It was slow and sluggish in its movements and it was very obvious that it had no fear of being bothered or eaten by a predator.  We tried back-tracking along its trail in hopes of finding some eggs, but to no avail.  As we traced our own tracks back to the ship, Kerabac said, “Keep moving and don’t act suspicious, but glance down at our tracks on the trail.”  I did as he said and noticed the imprints of small, bare human-like feet overlaid on the tracks we had previously made.

“Do you think they’re still around?” I asked.

“I’m sure of it,” said Kerabac.  “I suggest we act as though we are unaware of their presence and let them be the ones to make contact.”

As we moved further down the trail, I tried to look about the jungle casually without appearing to be looking for anything in particular, but I failed to see anyone or note anything out of the norm.  I asked Kerabac, “Do you think they will attack us?”

“I doubt it.  They prefer to avoid contact with outsiders; but one never knows.”  It took us nearly an hour to reach the ship, during which time we didn’t see even a single native.  We made doubly sure the hatch was sealed for the night before going to bed.  The next day when we exited the ship to begin our search, we were shocked to find the head of a drodoceal mounted on a pole near our hatch.

“Please tell me this is a welcome and not what I think it means
,” I said.

“I wish I could,” said Kerabac, “but I fear it means precisely what you fear it does.  We obviously are not welcome here.”

“Perhaps we should relocate.  There don’t seem to be a lot of ruguians in this area anyway.”

Hotyona spoke up and said, “According to my research,
ruguians are constantly on the move; and though they don’t appear to deliberately congregate, they are most likely to be found in greater numbers near their typical food sources.”

“What do they eat?” I asked.

“Reports indicate they are herbivorous; but I have no real data on specific food preference.”

“When I was here before, I noted several of them eating blossoms from a bush,” said Kerabac, “but I don’t know if that was a preference or coincidence.”

“It well could be a preference, as there are many animal species that prefer to eat blossoms.”

“There doesn’t seem to be much in the way of flowers here,
” I said.  “Everything is green or gray.  Again, maybe we should relocate.  On the other hand, if we could make contact with the natives, perhaps we could find a way to recruit them to help us locate the eggs.”

“At this point I don’t think recruiting them is a good idea,” replied Kerabac.  “My vote is we move.”

“I would agree with Kerabac,” said Hotyona.  “According to what I’ve been able to find in the plant catalog, there should be numerous plants in bloom year around that would attract ruguians, if they do, in fact, prefer flowers.”

I wasn’t sure how much of what I was hearing was prompted by true concern over finding
ruguian eggs and how much of it was because of the drodoceal head mounted on the pole that morning; but I was willing to look elsewhere, if it meant finding more eggs.

Kerabac carefully navigated the ship out of the cluster of
I’aban trees and over the gravel beach.  Fortunately, he had turned on the cloaking device before leaving the cover of the canopy, because we were barely out in the open when the sensors alarms were triggered, indicating the presence of another ship.  We had been on Alle Bamma for only two days and we knew it would still be several days before the
NEW ORLEANS
arrived; so we were immediately on the alert.  Kerabac checked the screens and announced that it was a small armed fighter, similar to those used by several of the non-aligned worlds.  These ships were manufactured on planets that were known for specialized production of all kinds of arms and military equipment.  Kerabac said the ship could belong to a mercenary, a pirate or the Brotherhood; there was simply no way of telling.  I wished that we had A’Lappe with us to attempt to intercept any communication to and from the ship; but he wasn’t, so we simply retreated some distance away and watched as it circled about the lake and then slowly headed off.

“Do you think they’re aware that we’re here?” I asked.

“I doubt it,” said Kerabac. “But someone is obviously patrolling the area to look for something or someone.  It may simply be a routine patrol; but I think we need to be careful.  There shouldn’t be anyone here at all, let alone a fighter.  If it were a prospector or drug company looking for new plants to research for medicinal purposes, they would have been in a small research ship or transport and certainly not a fighter.  I recommend we find a new place to hide quickly, before our cloaking time is used up.”

“I agree, Kerabac.  Were you able to monitor where the ship went?”

“I was able to track it until it dropped below the horizon west of here,” replied Kerabac.  “It seemed to be heading pretty much in a straight line, stopping periodically to circle lakes in the region before continuing on.”

“Well, I would recommend we move about 50 kilometers south of here and see what we can find,” I said.

The flight lasted only a few minutes and brought us to the shore of one of the larger lakes on the planet.  It, too, seemed to have gravel beaches around its edge and I’aban trees growing in groves along its perimeter.  Once again, Kerabac was able to find us a place to slip in among the trees.  We were able to get deeper into the tree line than before, as there was a natural corridor formed by the trees that gently curved away and inland from the lake, allowing us to retreat to a location where we were not directly visible from the shore.

Once the
ALI
set down, we wasted no time in getting out of the ship to begin hunting for ruguian eggs.  Hotyona suggested that we would have a better chance of finding flower-bearing plants near the edge of the I’aban groves, where there was more light passing through the canopy; so we headed off in that direction.  As we came nearer to the edge of the grove, we began to see flowering bushes and other plants scattered about the jungle floor.  We hadn’t traveled far before we encountered the first ruguian and another about 10 meters away, this time chomping on some blossoms.  However, we didn’t see any eggs, so we spread out, trying to keep in sight of each other while we searched.  We came upon a few more ruguians; but as it neared time for sunset, we knew we had to stop searching and head back to the
ALI
, knowing that it was important to be inside before the rapidly approaching darkness left us vulnerable.
 
We were nearing the point where the flowers ended at the thick of the I’aban canopy, when Hotyona found our second cluster of eggs – this one weighing in at 70 grams.  It was obvious that finding the eggs was not going to be an easy or fast project.

We no sooner collected the eggs than one of the rainfalls so common on the planet broke loose in a torrent.  At first, the large leaves of the canopy above us deflected most of the rain; but as leaves began to sag under the weight of the water, we found ourselves
quickly soaked as large drops and streams of water descended on us from the heights of the canopy.  We arrived back at the ship totally soaked and uncomfortable in our protective gear just as it was becoming almost too dark to see.  I was rather glad to see the ship, as I didn’t like the idea of trying to find the
ALI
in the dark, especially in the heavy rain.  Hotyona placed the eggs in the stasis container with the other eggs; and then we took turns showering and getting into dry outfits before gathering in the small crew area for a meal.

“Kerabac, you said you picked up a bit of the language used by the many of the tribes here.  Is any of that available through the learning headbands?”

“I don’t know, Tibby, that’s a good question.  Fifteen years ago is wasn’t in the computers, but it may have been added since then.  There are hundreds of different languages among the natives here from what I can tell.  What I mainly learned is a sort of broken language that is universal to most of the tribes from what I understood; but whether it’s been cataloged and added into the computer system I don’t really know.”

“Is it possible for you to check?” I asked.

“I can check the ship’s computer; but ships the size of the
ALI
generally have only an abbreviated database that is nowhere near as comprehensive as, for instance, the one on the
NEW ORLEANS
or on a star ship.  It is possible, though, because great efforts are made to have as many languages available as possible, in case of a crash or a situation that leaves travelers stranded on a planet for an indefinite period.”

“The
ALI
isn’t just any ship; it was designed to serve as Galetils’ personal ship and I can’t imagine him putting anything less than the most advanced and sophisticated computer in his personal craft.”

“You have a point there, Tibby.  Let me check.”  Kerabac got up from the table and headed into the control room.

I turned to Hotyona and asked, “What do you think our chances are of finding all the eggs we need in the next four days?  We need five times what we have now to make the anti-toxin.”