The Token, Kevin Bird [dark books to read TXT] 📗

refused to incorporate modern technology into their lives. Dating back to the beginning of the first inter-system wars, they had shunned any of the advances they felt had led to the wars. This soon turned to a complete regression into a more simple and, often, pastoral existence. What the non-techs couldn’t produce directly through nature, they didn’t have; it had become almost a religion of sorts. These people were ideal to work a farming planet, as they were on a much closer level with nature and tended to be able to take care of themselves better than most, requiring less from those off-planet which suited the Suppliers just fine.
The paradox was that man had heavily adapted nature on these planets to suit his new requirements; however the new inhabitants simply had to make do and work in harmony with what was left to them. But adapting was more palatable to the non-techs than the option of going to war. They were willing to work hard to keep any of their people from being pressed into military service where they would be surrounded by all things technological, and would eventually find nothing but death. The Token was something they had never failed to meet.

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“We must do something now!” shouted one of the farmers in the back of the group. He visibly shrank back in embarrassment when his voice echoed off the far wall. “I’m sorry to shout so,” he said to no one in particular.
“That’s OK, we’re all feeling the same frustration you are. But what would you have us do?” responded Blake. “We don’t have any weapons, and even if we did, we don’t have the skill or the moral ability to use them. There has to be another way. We don’t even have communications equipment to call the Suppliers for help.” He seemed to sag a little before continuing. “Sometimes our beliefs can make life difficult.”
Silence fell over the room as they all considered the apparent dead end they’d found themselves in. Jacob knew that if they didn’t do something quickly, they’d lose more animals and would be unable to meet the Token that was due so soon. Then some of their children would be forfeit. He couldn’t let that happen. But what could any of them do?


Four


Out of necessity to survive we had entered our long period of dormancy. We had gambled that much would have changed in our world by the time we awoke again. When that moment came, our minds were groggy about what had happened. Soon, however, the memories came back. A rush of remembered pain and fear!
Many strange two-legged creatures had poured from inside large flying things that came from out of the skies. The noise of their approach had frightened each of us, for we had not seen or heard anything like them before. We had never been afraid of anything in our past. The emotion of fear was new to us. At first the two-legged creatures did not seem to even know we were here, as we sensed they were out mostly during the daylight hours. Soon, however, they began coming into our hills to kill our food. This we could not allow.
We tried to defend our prey and were able to inflict much damage on those that had come to take food from us for no apparent reason. But the creatures were many and offered no mercy. Once they realized we were there, they wasted no time in attacking us. In short order all but a very few of us had been destroyed. Those that survived hid in our cave homes and saw images of the last of our brethren knocked to the ground by the flashes of light that came from the big loud things the two-legged creatures lived in. The images of pain appeared in our minds and then promptly blinked out. Our comrades had not risen again. After that, nothing was the same for any of us.
For two more cycles, the two-legs had combed the planet searching out all manner of lifeforms, both plant and animal, and destroying much of what they found. They seemed to pay particular attention to any animals that, like us, hunted and ate other animals. As it became clear to us that our species was in its last throes of survival, we sought the safety of hibernation. Those of us chosen for the long sleep were torn between the clear need of our kind’s survival and the rage at not being able to go out with the others in a direct confrontation against our killers. Doomed though this final defense appeared to be, our pride and group awareness pushed us to it. It was clear to us what we should do. We knew a breeding group would have to be left safely behind; we must continue.
Those of us selected to survive entered into caves that had rarely been used because they were so deep into the mountains. There we huddled together for warmth and entered a dormancy from which we hoped to awaken in a safe and sane environment. While we slept, the two-legs continued their cruel work. Yet, also while we slept, nature started to work on the elders in our small group, and in this dormant state the survival instinct began to create new life. The last images we saw were of youngsters bounding across rocks while elders sat by enjoying the playfulness. It soothed us to sleep.
We had lost the majority of our kind, and to delay breeding any longer would possibly have been the end of us. Thoughts being sent back to us were those of fear and loss, strangers standing over the lifeless bodies of our family, and our prey animals being likewise slaughtered. In times of dire need, we would naturally go into a long sleep. During this time we would develop, and then, finally at the time of our waking, bear young. It was unusual for us to breed this way, none living now could remember the last time, as we would normally take advantage of some of our larger prey animals as hosts for the growing young. Now there were no animals large enough left alive after the invader’s violence, and our own bodies would have to do the carrying. This was always more dangerous, both for the adult and the new life within them. We would have to expel our young from the hollow sub-dermal area behind our heads before they began feeding on us, which is what they would normally have done with larger host animals. Because of this early birthing they would be less developed than usual and would need much more care.
Traditionally, we would attack a prey animal but instead of killing it, we would merely introduce the beginnings of one of us into its belly cavity. Our probosci were not only powerful enough to kill and rend flesh, but were also precise and delicate enough to place our seed exactly where it needed to be. Over time our youngster would grow by ingesting the still living animal from the inside, eventually killing it. Once it emerged from the dead host, the rest of us would immediately sense its feelings and images and all would rush joyfully out to bond with the newest member of our close group. The young one would appear precocious enough to hunt with us within a few short days, needing little or no support from us. This was the way it should be, but instinct had told us this was an unusual situation and desperate measures were called for.
We had slept for a long time, waiting for some recognizable change or sign. Eventually, images began to appear in our heads. We sensed some of our prey animals were roaming the mountain, so all had not been destroyed. Also, there came images from another lifeform with a similar mind to our traditional prey. Different, but close, they were still clearly a source of food for us. At that time our delayed implantations began to move ahead. The time was near. Another sign as we came closer to wakefulness was a lack of something. No more could we feel or hear the loud explosions and heavy vibrations that had been the last things our senses offered us.
Initially, when we had woken, we had found a small number of our traditional prey animals in the mountains and foothills where they, like us, must have escaped the slaughter. Very quickly we had decimated the remaining animals. We were once again hungry. Now, more than ever, we needed a ready source of food. Our newly created young demanded it. We had been forced to go further afield than we were used to, but our noses and some vague images told us something to eat was out there, to the west away from our mountain safety. Leaving the young behind with a few of the elders for safety, the rest of us had pushed ourselves in the dark of night to move across the land and find what it was we could smell on the wind. Finally, we saw a group of unusual looking animals behind some kind of a barrier made from tree parts.
We spent some time looking around making sure there were no noisy things in the air or two-legged creatures that could throw the flashes of light that brought death to us. Satisfied it was just us and these animals in the night we had, one by one, quietly bounded over the barrier. Not knowing our prey, we had attacked a small animal that was somewhat apart from the others. It was much more powerful than its size would have indicated, and we were grateful for our numbers. We took just this one small animal back to our cave to make sure it was good food. We soon realized that not only were these new animals good to eat, they were also much easier to catch, since they were penned in, than the free-roaming prey we had grown up hunting.
Once the animals realized there was now a threat to them during the night, they began to sleep in a tighter group. It was now sometimes difficult to separate one of the small ones from the rest. One way around this was to make sure we left several nights between attacking each group. We found that our mountains were now surrounded with these penned animals; so each night we would go out on our hunt in a different direction from the last. We found that the animals would quickly forget why they should be careful at night, and we could invariably surprise some young animal sleeping apart from the group.
As our young began to grow bigger and stronger, they needed more food. We soon had to learn to take down the larger animals. This was no easy task, as many of them were twice our size and would readily defend themselves by rearing up and pounding down with their massive hooves. Previously we would jump over the barriers, and a group of us would leap upon an animal’s back, this worked, but many times we were thrown off and injured in the process. Luckily, none of us had been hurt seriously; but it was only a matter of time, especially now that we were concentrating on the bigger animals. We had to find another method that would create less risk to us, and find it we did.


Five


After the other farmers had left, Blake and Jacob stayed to talk some more. By the end of the community meeting nothing had been decided and the two men felt very ineffective, a feeling neither was comfortable with. They were strong men; farmers with families to provide and care for. This