Through the Kisandra Prism (30 page)

The Sisling’s nose and antenna began to twitch,

‘honey – honey,’ she cries out and shot away.

‘Don’t go far!’ cries out Blodwyn, she did not want to be left on her own. The Ling flew to a small rock face bordering the sandy path where a large honey comb hung; Blodwyn could almost taste the wild honey, she had half a loaf left; honey and bread would be perfect. She was soon disappointed. The Sisling returned empty handed.

‘Where is the honey?’ she demands.

‘The honeycomb is full of baby-bees,’ exclaims the Ling.

‘Rubbish!’ answers Blodwyn, ‘there are no such things as baby-bees…only greedy larvae that look like maggots with brown heads.’

‘I like baby-bees,’ answers Boochi, ‘bees are kin to Lings.’

‘All right… have it your way – no baby-bees,’ says Blodwyn; she remembered Sislings sometimes carry around a bumble bee, like a child carries and fusses over a favorite doll. There were a few other hives in the rock face and Boochi soon returned with a heavy piece of honeycomb, without ‘baby bees’ and began eating.

‘No,’ says Blodwyn get some more first, fill this bag.’

She placed the dripping combe in a plastic bag brought for such occasions and licked her fingers: delicious.

‘Let me feed you,’ says Boochi.

‘Not likely!’ she answers, ‘I know some of the nasty things you drop in your Queen’s mouth when she is in a feeding frenzy.’

Boochi giggles. The Sisling was taking its time on the next trip, stuffing its little pudding-hole Blodwyn knew.

An awful rotten smell hit her like a fog. Rounding a bend she came across a large dead quadruped lying on its side; there were deep cuts on the body that did not look like teeth marks. Going to the other side of the dead dinosaur she could see that the dinosaur’s belly had a large entrance hole in it. As she looked at it; the dead dinosaur’s stomach moved!

“My God! – something alive is in there.” She was about to move away: too late. The head of a small knee-high, vividly colored reptile stuck its gore-covered head out of the dead quadruped’s stomach.

At first this small raptor dinosaur hissed at her in surprise. Blodwyn stood still. Tilting its head one way and then in the other, the reptile studied her making a kind of clucking noise… like a chicken. It had a vicious birdlike look, a beak with rows of teeth and two clawed feet. Soon another four gore- covered heads appeared from the cavernous stomach and regarded her with interest, clucking to each other, as if in some kind of communication.

Blodwyn slowly began backing away to the tall rock face and the protection of the Sisling. The bag was full of honeycomb. Looking back, the small raptors had not followed her – why should they – they had plenty to satisfy their hunger.

‘Let’s get back now Boochi,’ says Blodwyn. She began to retrace her steps: something made her look around. The five small dinosaurs were now silently following her. She presumed they could smell the honey: she was wrong. These were Crimson-beaked Vulturids, organ-eaters of the dead, the dying and the weak – it was not honey they were after – but her fresh internal organs!

‘Boochi… I don’t like the look of those small dinosaurs following us,’ Blodwyn comments.

‘They are only chickens,’ answers the Sislings landing on her shoulder.

‘Don’t be stupid,’ says Blodwyn, they may sound like chickens - just look at their teeth – some bodyguard you are.’

The little Sisling giggled and unconcerned proceeded to wipe its mouth and hands on her hair! She was forced to ignore this; she had more important matters to deal with at the moment.

The five Vulturids were now quietly intent; their necks stretched forward, ready to bite at her legs and to bring her down. At her next backward glance, one of the biggest Vulturids had silently sneaked right up near her leg – like some sly dog wishing to take a quick nip.

Without hesitation she zapped the small but bold reptile with the laser. It fell stunned to the ground, kicking the air. Immediately its companions attacked their fallen comrade – for that is the nature of the crimson-beaked Vulturids.

She hurried on, while the four raptors were occupied. But something else made her stop in her tracks. A giant, shiny centipede in the act of crossing the sandy path suddenly reared up on seeing her; the insects here were enormous – she hated centipedes – their bite was extremely painful.

She could clearly see its sharp mandibles held wide open, ready to bite. This creature was around six feet long and a good foot wide; it made a strange noise like cloth ripping.

The little Sisling flew straight into the attack, flashing red. Both contestants wrestled on the ground. The large mandibles of the centipede closed on the little Sisling; the long body and sharp pointed legs encased the little Ling, until all she could see was a ball of struggling, shiny sharp pointed legs.

‘Oh no!’ gasps Blodwyn, ‘poor Boochi…she will be bitten in half!’ She stood helpless and watched the unequal struggle. “Would the laser hurt the Sisling?” Sebus had said: ‘it would stun any dangerous mammal, Lings were of insect ancestry? The giant centipede’s jaws continued working all over the little Lings body, looking for a weak spot. But her mind was soon distracted. From behind came more clucking noises!

Turning she found the four Vulturids were back; they regarded her with baleful eyes. The fight to the death between the Ling and the giant centipede held no interest for them; their steely reptilian eyes were fixed on her. She turned the laser to ready. But these small raptors were no fools; they stayed just out of range and began to spread out as if to surround her. She was now forced to keep quickly turning from one to the other.

Suddenly with a grating hiss the centipede almost stood upright as the intense pain of the Ling’s venom-loaded sting penetrated between the creature’s amour plated carapace and found the soft inner body.

‘Yippee!’ Shouts Blodwyn as the Sisling buzzed around the hundred weakly moving legs of its victim. The centipede slowly waved goodbye to the prehistoric sky and to life.

Before she could say another word, Boochi the Sisling still flashing red in anger flew straight to the Vulturid directly blocking her path. To this species of raptor a large insect was a snack to be snatched out of the air if it came within range; but the Sisling was just too quick for its stabbing, toothed beak. In a red flash the Ling stung the Vulturid on the neck. With a piercing squawk the raptor jumped in the air as if given a powerful electric charge and after a few jerks dropped dead: such is the potency of the Ling’s neurotoxic venom.

‘What a wonderful bodyguard!’ Blodwyn shouts, delightedly.

Boochi returned to her grinning, eyebrows raised above black button eyes.

‘Well done Boochi…you were fantastic… you can have a double portion of pollen toffee when we get back…and I forgive you for wiping your hands and face on my hair.’ Blodwyn hurries back to the space chariot.

A quick look behind told her the remaining Vulturids had began eating their dead companion.

Blodwyn was relived to be back in the safety of the space chariot, despite her sticky hair. A quick monkey-wash from the bottle of water cleaned both of them up. From her vantage point she could see a plume of smoke rising on the distant horizon; this would require investigation tomorrow.

The same sun that shines on us today was slowly kissing the distant hills that would one day become the Andes Mountain range. Prehistoric night was approaching. Surprisingly the evening became very chilly, not a time for cold-blooded creatures to venture out. “Thank goodness” she thought. She herself felt cozy, warm and safe in the chariot. Blodwyn fed the brave little Ling a triple portion of pollen toffee. The Sisling was exhausted by its gallant efforts and quickly fell asleep. Lings used high levels of energy and need high-energy sweet food, pollen toffee and honey were perfect. Blodwyn watched a strangely quiet prehistoric sunset. In the far distance the pterodactyls began roosting on the dark cliffs, she felt very privileged. Sleep as usual came quickly.

The following morning broke, chilly layers of mist floated above the sandy ground; only the weird tops of the fern, palm and the monkey puzzle trees could be seen. She and the Sisling would wait till visibility improved; breakfast was of bread and honey. Through the mists she noticed something in front of her that was not there before. It moved. It was something very big! Thank God she was hidden by thick ferns.

Blodwyn cloaks the space-chariot as a precaution; her heart pounding. The dinosaur had been lying down only some fifty paces from the space-chariot all night. The ascending sun soon cleared the mists. She then recognized the creature that she had spent the night beside: a Tyrannosaurus Rex!

The Lizard-King was awake.

The great carnivore slowly and painfully struggled to regain its massive hind legs. It was clear to Blodwyn that the twenty-five foot tall reptile was wounded. Something that looked like a giant thorns was embedded in the hamstrings of one of its huge legs. Groaning painfully, the Tyrant-King tried unsuccessfully to remove these objects of pain; first with its small hands attached to puny arms and then with its impressive serrated teeth – but without success. The reptile groaned loudly, as if accepting painful failure.

Blodwyn felt a thin streak of sympathy for the powerful raptor and thought of the parable of ‘Daniel and the lion’ wouldn’t it be romantic? However on closer observation – she realized they were not thorns – they were arrow shafts! This was not possible. The arrival of man was still over a hundred million years in the future. Dinosaurs and any kind of man never met, regardless of the many films she had seen on the subject. Her curiosity overwhelmed her: she knew a Daniel.

‘Wake up you lazy little devil – you are missing an amazing sight,’ says Blodwyn. The little Ling awoke.

‘Give me more pollen toffee,’ it demands.

‘Look,’ she answers, ‘you are supposed to be my bodyguard and accept my commands, for free… not demand pollen toffee as a fee every time I speak or look at you. Go and pull one of those sticks from that Tyrannosaurus and bring it here.’

The little Sisling flew straight to the giant dinosaur and began tugging at an imbedded arrow. The raptor turned, hissing in pain but could do nothing about the troublesome insect. Soon Boochi brought the arrow to Blodwyn: it was iron tipped! What was going on in this supposedly pre-historical era the Cretaceous?

‘I feel sorry for the Tyrannosaurus,’ she says, ‘take all the arrows out.’

‘Its bottom smells!’ The Sisling complains.

‘I will give you two barley sugars,’ coaxes Blodwyn. (Lings do not have human emotions or values.) The Sisling complies. All the arrows were removed despite the reptile’s protests at this little persistent flying insect that was causing it great pain. As the prehistoric mists were all dissolved by our common sun, above the quiet pain-ridden moans of the Tyrannosaurus Rex, came the familiar, excited clucking sounds again. The Crimson Vulturids had heard the first notes of the Lizard King’s requiem! The giant Tyrannosaurus was soon surrounded by a dozen cautious Vulturids who sensed its weakness.

The large raptor hissed loudly at these little opportunists who quickly dispersed; they had plenty of time and patience to match, they would wait. Blodwyn studied this reptile killer; the animators had got it wrong. It was strikingly colored. Vivid shades of red, yellow, blue and green stripes on a shiny dark green body. And instead of roaring constantly and annoyingly loudly, it hissed deep hisses, which were sometimes accompanied by rumbling growls. Its eyes were similar to that of a modern day crocodile; eyelids closing from the bottom of the eye. The tyrant reptile was starving – it had been hounded without time to feed; it could smell the dead quadruped and painfully moved forward.

Blodwyn kept the space-chariot in cloak and silently followed the giant reptile. The smoke on the horizon had disappeared – it must have been some kind of bush fire – she was very wrong – the fire she had seen had been deliberately lit and tendered. She landed on a high, bare sandy dune overlooking the carcass. Finding the dead and very high quadruped, the Tyrannosaurus began to tear at the rotting carcass: but not for long.

Blodwyn noticed stealthy movement between the fern trees. To her amazement and horror tailless lizard-men were silently stalking the feeding reptile – my God! She recognized them – they were the distant ancestors of the cold-blooded Malis Afar: Malisaraptors! Their scales were more prominent at this stage of their development, as were their jaws and they looked more reptilian in appearance that the modern, alien Malis Afar. These Cold-bloods were permanently and vibrantly green-striped, ideal camouflage. These early Cold-bloods had already lost their tail and had begun to evolve into humanoids; they stood around an impressive seven feet tall.

Their Queen soon appeared: a full grown nine foot tall Malisaraptor with a thick tail! “Why were the females of the species not evolving into humanoids?” Blodwyn wonders. This female was no different from the present Queen Raa of the Malis Afar aliens which she had seen on her last adventure. With the Reptile Queen waddled a small rotund female Malisaraptor with big round eyes and a short fat tail, this baby looked quite sweet for a killer.

Karak, the Malis Afar who had captured her on Tarrea-one with the help of the Na Idriss, had been right, the ancestors of the Malis Afar developed millions of years before Homo Sapiens and were of superior intelligence to man. Did the Malis Afar really build Atlantis? The proof of their intelligence was undeniable; they were space travelers when man was in the Stone Age. Before the great Ice Age the Malis Afar left Earth and settled in the Aquilla Triangle – a group of planets in the Andromeda Galaxy. However the Cold-bloods did have millions of years’ head start on man. Perhaps that was the answer to their superior intellect compared with modern man?

Sensing danger the Tyrannosaurus turned at bay and faced its pursuers. The hot sun had warmed up the Cold-bloods, who moved with incredible speed. The Reptile Queen led the attack; leaving her small spoilt daughter with one of her many sons as baby sitter. (Babysitting their little sister was never the most sought after job of the warrior sons. Their little sibling would immediately set about attacking her sitter with sharp tooth and claw; it was good practice for the future Queen).