“That would take centuries. The Colonial Administration might not be quite so bloody politically correct if it’s a simple case of the survival of our entire race!”
“I agree, but what alternative do we have?”
“See if you can construct a device, if only to give us the time and opportunity to finish our preliminary tests. Then we look for a suitably isolated site.”
By this time, many of you may have guessed that the crew members were not human and that they now stood on the Earth during what is called the Stone Age, as the last great Ice Age spread from both poles.
They were beings that were neuter until puberty and then progressed to become male. This allows for the more adventurous and aggressive nature to be spent in sporting and keen business pursuits, after which they mature and settle down as females. The last phase before returning to neuter at what would be termed menopause is that of mamale. Having a wealth of experience, maturity and knowledge, they are ideally suited to rear the young that the youthful males and steady females wish to produce.
The female selects her mate from the host of willing males. Then after sexual contact, the fertilised egg is passed in a pseudo-sexual encounter to the infertile third party, the mamale. The mamale will allow the unborn child to grow in her womb and give birth, after which she will suckle the child for the two month period before they join its parents in the family unit until such time as that child experiences puberty and becomes male. This is the signal for the small unit to break up, as one or both of the genetic parents may well have changed to the next phase.
Graton, the science officer was the only mamale, while the Captain, Karya was a female. Jay Bee was the only male left, as all but Graton had been male when the ship had launched. Graton was now pregnant with Kayra and Jay Bee’s unborn child.
“Oh, and I’ll need a couple of brutes to work on,” Graton said.
“Live ones?”
“Yes, one male and female, and both must be alive.”
“That may be difficult,” the Captain said.
“Without it, I can’t do it.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Kayra said, leaving to see whom she could persuade to complete such a task.
* * * * * *
G’mom was tired, as he’d chased this deer for many days’ walk in but a few hours. Although wounded, the deer was big and strong, so had not gone down as G’mom had desired and expected after he’d thrown the spear. The weapon had penetrated the side of the animal, but had fallen loose after the first part of the chase.
He’d passed beyond his tribal lands deep in the forest, where his people lived among the trees. He was now heading up and out of the forest, in the land of the Lani. He, as a member of the Banna people, had no quarrel with the Lani, but if the deer fell on their land, they had first right to it, so he would be forced to return home with nothing.
At last, by a small stream in a dell, he saw the deer collapse. He could see no Lani, so he pounced, killed and butchered the animal as quickly as he could. Normally he’d preserve the hide, but being so far from home, he used his flint blade to cut the hide into strips and squares to form parcels in which he could place the meat for his journey home. He’d just cleaned himself in the stream, drunk deeply and was preparing to leave when one of the flocks of birds in the trees took flight, apparently alarmed about something he could not see.
He crouched, spear at the ready, listening and watching, but nothing moved. After what seemed an age, he relaxed, bent and was picking up his load of meat when he felt a sharp pain in his left buttock.
Thinking he’d been stung by a striped insect, he glanced down to see a strange dart protruding from his behind. At that moment two of the most hideous creatures he had ever seen emerged from the bushes and advanced towards him. He roared his defiance and fear, raising his spear, but sank to his knees before being able to throw it, and then collapsed onto his face, unconscious.
JayBee breathed a sigh of relief and then, together with his colleague Fytin, they dragged the helpless human to the nearby ground car, placing him into the cage alongside the unconscious form of a human female they’d caught an hour previously.
Graton had his specimens.
It took several months, so it was soon after giving birth that Graton announced that the device was ready. The human specimens had been returned to a location close to where they’d been originally found. Now their DNA and brain patterns had been configured into the device’s memory chip.
The crew assembled in the small science lab and watched impatiently as Graton finished feeding the infant and placed it into a small crib.
“Right, by using the best micro-technology available to me, I have been able to construct a device that, I hope, will allow one individual to mimic a brute. I have taken a reactor from a weapon and with a transformer and a Direct-mind-control unit from a suit, I have come up with this,” Graton declared, holding up a distinctly odd device.
They all looked at it.
It wasn’t what anyone expected.
“How does it work?”
“In theory it does everything you asked of me. Using the data that I collected from the two specimens, this device firstly tunes into the mind of the wearer, and then projects and transforms, through the wearer’s physical form, the correct image of the indigenous natives, even down to blood type, DNA and brain patterns. In short, you not only look like they do, but your body works like theirs and you think like them too.”
“You said it was an image. I thought it transforms the body to be the same as the brutes?” asked Fytin.
“In a way, it does, but as soon as you remove the device, the effect is reversed and the wearer returns to normal.”
“In theory? Haven’t you tried it out yet?” Kayra asked.
“Ah, as you know, I have approached each of you over the last few weeks, and unfortunately none of you seems willing to be the test subject.”
“Let me hold it,” the captain asked.
Graton handed it over to her, watching as she turned it over in her hands.
“It looks like something to put round a prisoner's neck,” she said.
“It is, sort of.”
“This will hardly make us inconspicuous. I mean, it’s very obvious.”
She held it up for all to see.
It was a C shaped torc, made from a dull grey metal, thicker at the rear and with small globes of metal at each end. At no point did the device's thickness exceed a centimetre in diameter, and actually it looked relatively delicate and inconsequential. It was rigid, so there didn't appear to be any way that any of the crew could hope to fit their neck through the two inch gap between the globes. As their necks were slightly thicker than a human, this was quite an obstacle.
“It’s only obvious because we aren't used to wearing such ornaments. The brutes wear ornaments not unlike this from time to time, so shouldn't draw any extra suspicion. I accept that they have yet to discover metal, but that is a minor factor. The power plant, micro-chips and transforming projector are located in the rear where it is slightly thicker. I've used the last of the Guayxa metal, it's a rare commodity that is now even rarer after our planet’s destruction.
“The alloy is about the strongest metal we've ever known. Some say it's the hardest metal to have ever existed, and certainly it is far harder than anything that we've found here, so far. Even the diamonds that are reasonably common here are not able to scratch the surface of this substance. Let me show you,” she said, taking a bar of dull grey metal. Taking a large clear gem, she tried to scratch the surface of the bar, but failed to make the slightest mark.
“You see, it can be made so thin and yet remain exceptionally strong. However, the technology inside the torc is the clever bit. Using a combination of technologies, I've achieved something that would win awards if we were still back home. Firstly, the mind of the wearer will complete the final picture through the mental booster and matter transformer. I had tried to use a simple projector, but that was, as the dead rodent showed us, not exactly reliable. Instead, I've locked the Brutes’ DNA code into the transformer, and by linking it with our own, it simply uses the transformer to alter our DNA code and with our mental image to help, generates a finished product that will retain our individuality while rendering us as close to resembling them as possible.