The Visitor (7 page)

“
Peekaboo!” she said upon arriving. “I’ve the impression that you were doing something and that I’ve disturbed you. I’ve got to persuade you that I’m your friend! I won't steal what you’ve hidden, if you hid something.”
 

She used two hands to manipulate her recording equipment, while, with the other two, she took a bottle of water from the bag she had slung on her back. With swift gestures, she removed the memory card from the device for safe-keeping in her pocket and put a second one in place, while filling the water vessel in the grass to replenish its contents.

“
I’ve pocketed footage of you," she said. “Don’t feel bad for my spying, eh! It’s rather a mark of interest, in fact. Tonight, before sleeping, I’ll look at what you did. You see, I can no longer do without you!”
 

The bov delivered several long bovgrunts. Ensuring, with a quick look, that the camera was recording, she was relieved to see that this was the case. When the animal became silent, she also kept silent a while for fear of interrupting. She produced knocking noises as she tapped two flexible fingers on her beak, in a patient attitude that invited discourse, but as he continued to remain silent, she replied:

“
You’ve waited until I removed the memory card to finally start telling me all about your life! You joker! But I’m very
happy, I won’t scold you. I'm going to retrieve your beautiful speech now for later tonight.”
 

She reinserted the memory card that she had just removed into a second slot on the device to add to it what had just been recorded.

“
There! Okay, you still haven’t eaten anything. I'm giving you fresh food and getting rid of that. Here you are! I brought you rice, since you seem to like it. And also carrots, soybean and two bananas.”
 

It wasn’t strictly speaking rice, carrots, soybeans and bananas, but they were close enough in likeness to make it appropriate to use these words in the translation.

The bov sniffed at the food from a distance.

“
I’m leaving you now. We’ll be back together shortly. Soon, you know, I'll most likely let you free, because you seem to be getting better and better. I’ll be sorry to no longer be able to see you, but it would be much worse if I kept you in prison...”
 

The animal bovgrunted.

“
Well, okay! But, I have to go now. My father has been in a bad mood for a few days! That’s the least I can say!”
 

*

Etos found himself alone, both a bit disappointed to see it go and happy to finally have free rein to act. He watched Gentle-Lightning until it completely disappeared behind the trees and then squatted down again to retrieve his tool. He turned it vertically to allow entry into his cage between two upright branches and looked at it smiling in pride. From time to time, making sure that he was still alone and safe from prying eyes, he indulged in a moment of admiration. It was a very nice tool! There was nothing pretentious about thinking that. He was sure that Mahisa would agree. She made beautiful ones, too. Incidentally, it was high time to go and find her. He would bring his evasion handiwork with him to show her.

After once again making sure that he wasn’t seen by anyone, he grasped the tool firmly at the end opposite to the hook and passed his arm outside the cage to try to pull forward a big stone that he had spotted some time ago. Remember that what we’re calling a ‘hook’ was nothing more than about fifteen centimeters of branching that he had left at the end of his pole. By using this tool, starting over several times, with patience and perseverance, he managed to bring little by little the stone towards him. Often, the hook slipped free, but the mental image of Mahisa waiting for him gave him a stubbornness that all the difficulties in the world couldn’t weaken. It took him twenty minutes to achieve his goal. But he had succeeded. The stone was finally there, close to his prison at hand’s reach. Sliding both his arms, one above the other, between two upright branches, he caught it and tried to bring it into the cage. But it was too big; it wouldn't pass in the gap. He turned it in one direction, then in the other, multiplying his attempts, until finding the angle where it had the smallest dimension. Even then, he had to use much force and exertion to get it to cross the gap; had it been any wider, he wouldn’t have been able to get it to enter his cage.

He sat there a moment cross-legged, one hand on this big rock shaped like a ball, panting, sweating and grimacing, as sharp pain awakened in his left shoulder. But he had obtained what he needed. So, his neuralgic stabs decreasing, a smile of satisfaction gradually came to replace his bitter grin. Thinking of Mahisa soon enabled him to completely ignore his shoulder, although the latter still protested a little.

The sun had disappeared behind the ridge of distant mountains, but it was still day. To ensure that he was still alone, he scanned for a moment the forest all around him, and then decided to move to the second and final phase of his plan.

*

Akkal was still in his office. He knew that when he returned home, his wife would once more blame him for spending more time at work than with his family. What could he do? That was the way it was! She worked in an engineering team for a company that manufactured agricultural and earth moving machinery. This activity was her passion, but she knew, and kept repeating it, how to maintain private life separate from professional life. As for himself, he felt less and less passionate, but he had to keep the company afloat.

His four arms resting on the meeting room’s round table, he glanced quickly at each of his five colleagues:

“
So” he said. “What's your idea to counter Ralchadomac?”
 

Not a single word was offered, all watching each other in embarrassment.

“
We can try to further reduce the cost of the puree...” risked Ykkmaly.
 

“
How? We’ve recycled all sources of protein. The beasts are already eating retired dairy bovs, their own unnecessary offspring and waste from the rendering off meat bovs. Cereal providers cannot lower their prices at all, we’re strangling them. So, how?”
 

Ykkmaly confined herself to staring at the table before her.

“
Another idea?” asked Akkal trying to keep his calm. Ykkmaly was a big shareholder. To make her angry wouldn’t fix anything. If she sold her shares... she could very well make their market value tumble. As usual, it was up to him to hold everything together...
 

He made a second interrogative ocular scan all around. They all remained quiet, but he noticed Ykkypol looking at him emphatically.

“
Okay! So... this meeting is over then. I hope that the night will be of good counsel and that tomorrow morning you'll all be interrupting each other over all the ideas you’ll have for me.”
 

Everyone stood up in silence and left the room, except Ykkypol who, last in line, stopped at the door to close it. He returned to sit in the front of his partner and said:

“
We may have the solution. In any case, I know the one that Ralchadomac has chosen.”
 

“
Your spy finally discovered their trick?”
 

“
Yes. The bastard asked me for a nice raise. He claimed that he was taking risks and that the info was so important that if he were to keep it from us, Ralchadomac would sink us for sure.”
 

“
So, you paid?
 

“
Yes, fifty thousand.”
 

“
Bastard! Okay... we’ll find a line for it in our budget... So, this info?”
 

“
Hold on tight. Remain properly seated in your chair. I hope you're not faint-hearted.”
 

“
Get on with it, okay!”
 

“
Uh... Listen carefully. In fact, it’s not to reduce the cost of meat that they have found a solution, but to reduce that of milk.”
 

“
So!”
 

“
I know! I know that it’s the price of meat that they’re attacking us with, but let me speak. Listen. They’ve a lower milk cost price than ours and this allows them to finance a lower selling price on meat. So they’ve no profit on meat, but are able to catch up on milk. This is a stratagem intended to mislead us, to reduce our chances of finding out how they do it.”
 

“
Okay! Then how is it done with milk”
 

Akkal liked Ykkypol, but his way of too slowly getting to the point often annoyed him.

“
Very simple, it only needs the courage to do it. If you can’t reduce the price of the puree, you have to ensure that the animals eat less, that they need less.”
 

“…
?”
 

“
They remove their four limbs.”
 

“
Eh? What? How?”
 

“
You heard me. I told you to hold on to your chair. They amputate their limbs when they reach the age of one week. Their need for protein is thus reduced since there is less to be fed.”
 

“
That’s atrocious!”
 

“
Perhaps, but it works. In addition, small limbs are recycled into the puree.”
 

“
I'm going to puke!” cried Akkal pinching significantly his beak.
 

“
You’ll have time to vomit all you want when we’re doing the same thing.”
 

“
Why not denounce them to the media rather than doing the same thing? They’d be fucked if this scandal was made public!”
 

“
So that the same media could become interested in us? Do you think that we’re squishy clean? Do you want us to find ourselves with all the associations for the protection of animals on our back? Starting with your sister.”
 

Akkal kept silent, scratching the scales of his forehead. His crest waved ominously.

*

Etos had noticed that his prison’s floor was made with strange branches all flat. Really very flat! Yes, rather strange indeed, but everything was strange in this prison anyway! The standing branches all around were so straight that they seemed surreal, so hard that they defied the laws of the forest. No tree produced wood in this way? He had also noticed that flooring elements weren’t tightly joined. And when he solidly struck his foot on one of them, it didn’t seem rock-solid.
And what if?
... He said to himself.
And what if... it could be broken
...

He lifted the big rock over his head and let it fall as violently as possible on the floor, close to the bars. This also, he hadn’t invented. For generations, his kin had used this method for cracking nuts. However, he was using a much heavier stone, because what he wanted to break was much bigger. No, he hadn’t invented anything, but he had still had the sense to divert the use of these two tools, the shaft with a hook and the stone for breaking; this was already an undeniable proof of intelligence.

In addition to this, he had the idea of focusing all his efforts on only one of these curious flat branches. Under the first shock, it gave a cracking sound and vibrated, but didn’t break. His shoulder protested by sending a neuralgic signal, but he refused to pay any attention to it. He imagined that Mahisa’s loving eyes were laid upon him and he didn’t want to disappoint her. Taking care to aim for the same point of impact, he raised the stone well up again and accompanied it in its fall for it to gain even more speed. This time the shock was terrible and the floor cracked significantly, but the stone bounced back and he fell onto his right foot. A cry of pain escaped him. He massaged his toes shouting insults to the flat branch and noticed that this time, it was severely damaged. As eager for revenge as for defeating it to be able to escape, he gave it a third furious blow that was fatal. It broke with a sharp crack that flattered his ego and satisfied his need to give punishment. The board, which for him was a strange flat branch, had failed near a bar. He raised it and rotated it several times in both directions, putting in such effort that it ended up broken at the other side of the cage. A strip of land, showing a few tufts of grass that had yellowed somewhat due to lack of light, appeared about 30 centimeters below the floor. He felt an indescribable pleasure slipping in his two feet to trample it. Because, wasn’t it already a small victory. Hadn’t he done what the lightning-slayer wanted to deny him?

Mahisa!
he screamed inside himself,
Look! I know how to overcome lightning-slayers!
 

This moment of intoxication fading fairly quickly, he had to admit that, all the same, he wasn’t free yet. All this work had taken some time. It was getting to be night and he realized that he was thirsty… and even a little hungry. But the abuse he had imposed upon the floor had rocked the water vessel so much that it was almost empty. He drank down greedily what was left, swallowed a banana and decided to get back to work.

From time to time, the smell and the indistinct plaintive sounds of fellow bovs reached him. He then listened and sniffed the air for a few seconds, then ignored it.

A red spot appeared on his shoulder dressing; he noticed it, but didn’t care. It was now important to break a second flat branch to increase the width of the opening in order to completely slip in. It was with admirable zeal that he began. In less than ten minutes, a second board gave way under commendable effort. He threw them outside the cage in two enraged gestures, as if he had wanted them to understand the full contempt that they instilled. Moonlight, the sole reigning light, illuminated his victorious expression.

He lied down on the earth inside the opening and tried to pass under the bars. But the gap not being high enough, even his head failed to pass. About ten centimeters were missing. Fortunately, the rain had the good sense to fall the previous night which made it relatively easy to dig the earth. Which he began to do so with greater alacrity since freedom felt close at hand! But as good as was his will, it still took him dozens of minutes, because he was using his hands to do it. The idea of using the water vessel, now empty, unfortunately didn’t come to mind. Not that he was lacking in intelligence, but he had never seen anything like it used as a digging tool. Even among the most brilliant species, spontaneous inventions by individuals are extremely rare; in addition, exceptional circumstances are often needed to be put on the right track. Inventions or discoveries are the convergence of an exceptional intelligence and a great deal of luck. Like Etos and his family, everything we do, every day, for better or for worse, is the result of our education, or at best some modest variations of what we learned.