From: Beth Fulton <beth.fulton@m...>
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 22:21:38 +1100
Subject: [GZG] [GZG Fiction] The Watcher 1 of 4
G'day guys, Now for a brief taste of the other side of the action. This text includes a healthy (maybe heavy handed) salting of alien words. I have tried to make their meaning clear (without actually saying "this means") in the text. It may not have worked 100%. If that kind of fiction annoys you skip it - you have been warned ;) Derek should have posted the update to our website by the time he goes to bed tonight. As part of that tere will be a glossary for those who want to know but still feel lost. When its up you'll be able to get to the glossary and all the new stories and photos by going to the link below and then hitting Articles New Guardian Archive of the Mars Campaign http://www.users.bigpond.com/derekfulton/ That will be it for a while. Back to work on Thursday. Cheers Beth > [quoted text omitted] The Watcher "...and there's those new boys over in the 71st, I reckon if we had some of their kit they'd be no questions about being stuck on sentry duty so long. We'd be front line against those alien f..." "Don't you ever shut up? "I don't reckon so Sarge, Pete don't know the meaning of dem words" Si'Buk had been listening to these beings for many riosh now. Watching their position with interest. They were perplexing. Chittering like Luot, lazing by the path, bright against the dark of the vegetation, like Tusi flowers on a bed of Yuas. Si'Buk coursed with the feeling of being this close to them. The chill that came with Ro'Kah lacing along the limbs and filling the torso. There was sheer enjoyment at getting this close and not having the rash actions of others spoil the moment, something the freedom of being a Kra'Bna allowed. It was unusual for an elder to remain in the frontline fighting arm of the Kon. That was for Doo's who felt the Ro'Kah keenly and were yet to bear young. Si'Buk had always been unusual though, from hatch day forward. Not a Sia'Na, yet still able to control the Ro'Kah, even when a Doo's. It had perturbed the other Si'V, particularly the Si'V'Kon, they had not wanted such a disturbing individual among them, had gladly acquiesced to the idea of Si'Buk joining the Kra'Bna. As a member of the Kra'Bna Si'Buk had often been alone, had the freedom to explore things, satisfy insatiable curiosity without being endlessly reminded of customs and taboos. It had been with great sadness that Si'Buk had recognized the early signs of her final metamorphosis to Sho's, accepting that retirement from the Kra'Bna was customary when one became an elder and could not normally be avoided. Despite the initial misgivings Si'Buk had made numerous attempts to retire. First there had been xenology, then archaeology, then philosophy, but in the end there was always another mission that needed Si'Buk's unique skills or extensive experience. Inevitably these missions would lead into campaigns and another vaosh of service would pass. In the past she had found herself tire of the military life as soon as the foe was exposed, understood and, as required, removed. She had no time for the distasteful internal struggles of the Xia'Zan any more, or the Tia'Vak they caused. Even the Fe'Lon no longer captured her imagination, commerce was not a discipline she'd found attractive for long, though it had ensured her Sho'sosh would be without want. This new foe, these kaa'zes, remained intriguing. They had proven to be a perplexing mix of financial drivers, unpredictable impulses and opaque loyalties that made little sense. The most disturbing for the Kra'Bna had been her report that their Do' could work together in mixed units! Single Do' units were often seen, the differing Do' wearing different robing and armours. Apparently little different to the Kra'Vak'Do' formations; but worryingly Huu'Mon units had been observed where individuals of many hues, many Do', freely worked together as an integrated unit. This practice was occasionally practiced by Kra'Bna operatives, but generally it was a rare and distrustful practice that the Kon generally condemned. The frequent and casual use of it by the Huu'Mon was unsettling and fuelled the perception that they were base kaa'zes. Even the word Huu'Mon was new and strange, which made it galling for many Kra'Vak. The Fe'Lon and Za'Va'Sku had been known for many Doosh. Their names were based on how they referred to themselves, but they had meaning. They had found a befitting place in the Kra'Vak lexicon. Fe had become the name for all trading and commerce throughout the Zha'Kra'Vak. Za had been the term for biotechnology as long as Si'Buk could remember. The name Za'Va'Sku was an elegant and accurate description of the appearance of the developing form of one of their bioconstructs. But Huu'Mon was meaningless. Too new to mean anything, well anything other than a divisive topic and irritation when conversing with nest-bed members Si'Buk reflected. Not all agreed on what should be done about this foe. Some thought they were little better than an horrific infestation to be eradicated. Others were not convinced, fearing religious opportunism and a political push to focus attention on a discernible enemy in an effort to end the Doosh of mistrust and strife of internal conflicts and Tia'Vak. Si'Buk had yet to make up her mind. Her concentration was broken, by a slight vibration in her susi. Lifting it up a little Si'Buk turned her head slightly and flicked her eyes down over the tiny display. It showed it would soon be light. Time to find a hiding place and rest, the coming night promised a good hunt. She silently retraced her steps, backing away from the Huu'Mon. Pausing occasionally to taste the breeze and check to see if she had been discovered. A few riosh and she was safely away and free to search more quickly for a suitable sus'ok. It did not take her long to locate one of the many Ko'Ns excavated to provide cover for the Si'V'Kon when they had first landed on this unpleasantly cold and dry world. Many of these covered pits had simply been abandoned once the area was taken, but others had been reused during the more recent Ti. Another keo passed while she sat perfectly still letting the last moments of the night wash over her. Slowly cocking her head first in one direction then the other she tasted the air, felt the vibrations soaking up from the ground and riding in on the wind. She was searching for the merest of hints that she had been discovered. Testing again and again before she was satisfied only the tiny ran'es scuttling nearby would witness her entry into the Ko'Ns. Moving with lightning speed she pulled open the cover and dropped down inside. The small space was longer than wide. At a quick guess it was vao long and sho deep. Whipping her susi over the dust she found a ral. Pushing on it gently it popped open to reveal a small stash of Yuas'sen. Not her favourite, but she had consumed much worse. She did not know when next she would have easy access to runat. She could go many tuosh before growing ill, her body beginning to shutdown without this micronutrient to catalyse cellular reactions. It was unlikely she would be away from the Kra'Bna'Kon that long, but experience had taught her never to pass up an opportunity. Better to eat now than run out later, no matter how unappetizing Yuas'sen seemed. Reaching into another recessed cut into the wall of the Ko'Ns, Si'Buk activated a panel, bringing up a small readout. She was pleased to see that the small space still contained most of its reserves. Even with all the dust and cloud cover in the air outside she was still getting sufficient ruozat to maintain her metabolism at very healthy levels. There was no real need to call on the reserves to bath in the pleasing warmth of it and she would not waste the precious energy now. She had simply wanted to verify that a source was available. Should she be severely injured in the coming hunt it was unlikely she would reach the Kra'Bna'Kon so she would have to withdraw here instead. With the help of this artificial source of ruozat her body would be able to deal with most moderate injuries. It would be much more painful than if she had access to the support of the Kon'Kr'Lat facilities. That did not deter her. It was part of the risk and it heightened the challenge and thrill. She had faced it before and was still alive. It had not been all smooth going, on more than one occasion she had come very close to becoming one of the krs'au. Luckily so far the only real result had been that she had lost a few Doosh off her vaat. The texture of her krans had hardened and thickened, like the Krn'Tes who lived under artificial ruozat in the Kra'Vaka'Kia'Kon ships as they patrolled the void for many Doosh. She did not mind looking older and dying sooner however, her experiences were worth far more to her. It had not helped her reception among the Si'V'Kon, who distrusted all the members of the Kra'Vaka'Kia'Kon for their appearance and altered growth rates, but the Kra'Bna did not care. They recognized such fears for the trivialities they were. If she miscalculated and any wounds she sustained were beyond her abilities to treat alone she was in trouble. If she could not then make it back to the Kon'Kr'Lat facilities then her death would be slow and painful. To a point she could cheat death with a concentrated dose of radiation, the ruozat bands, that activated reserves of runat in her system and gave her body a short term pulse of materials that let it redirect her vital system requirements through any undamaged sets of organs - the benefit of an organ redundancy that was an ancient evolutionary relic of a radially symmetric ancestral species. With this respite her damaged organs would have the chance to repair. If the wounds were more serious however then her body would need expert attention or it would begin to shutdown. In some cases it was possible for a Kra'Vak to survive this, to awaken to find one of their internal partitions had been isolated and the necrotic tissue expelled, the redundant systems picking up the extra load. This was a traumatic outcome even if the individual did not die. The expulsion of the necrotic segment would leave a calloused scar the length of the main body and it was rare for the Kra'Vak to return to full health. In past ages, before the advent of high levels of technological support, these sorry individuals would survive the initial wound only to be expelled for their family Do' and exposed like some malformed squalling Ano's. The more likely outcome for a badly wounded Kra'Vak that did not get help was that they would slip into a coma. Without a steady resource of runat the body's waste disposal mechanisms would shut down, eventually causing toxic shock as the body tried to age through its entire set of remaining metamorphoses one on top of the other. If the injured Kra'Vak had sort shelter before passing out, the decline would be more rapid, as deprivation of ruozat for extended periods of time simply hastened the depletion of runat. Kra'Vak in this state were not given any aid, it was a social taboo to try and save an individual in this condition. The agony they suffered while unconscious left their mind in a vegetative or psychotic state even if revived. While the vacant shell of a Do'Sah was abhorrent to Kra'Vak cultures and no Kon tolerated their existence, the psychotic form was even more reviled. If a Kra'Vak became Lo'Ro'Kah they lost all inhibitions and not even Sia'Na could control them, they could be deadly to all around them. Individuals that were afflicted in either way were considered to be lost, never to reach divine release - a horrifying prospect that Kra'Vak could not countenance. Retardation of this form was also symptomatic of a rare genetic syndrome caused by recessive defective alleles. More recently it has also been caused by a new and exceptionally virulent neurological pathogen. Witnessing the expression of these symptoms was unnerving to all Kra'Vak, because of its serious religious connotations. Members of the Xin'Dau'Do', the most technologically oriented of the Lo'SVas'Do', had also reported that any Kra'Vak falling into the susi of the Huu'Mon also suffered this awful end; starved of what they needed most their bodies betrayed them. Si'Buk had sworn by her Va'Do'An that she would never share such a fate. She would end her life through the ritual of Dau'Tna first.