“Secondly, I've managed to place a small force field generator in each torc, thus rendering the wearers virtually indestructible to any form of physical attack. Even micro-organisms and noxious gases would be kept out. Thirdly, by linking it to the force field generator, I've succeeded in linking the mental communications chip with the generator, so the wearer can literally manipulate force to either throw a bolt of energy or to reach out and use it as a tractor beam, to bring an object to you, or move you to a larger object.”
“Won’t the wearer get hot or suffocate?”
“No, the force field has the quality to filter air through, you will know it is there, but no one else will see or feel it. Only the wearer can remove it, and there is a special way of doing that. But I haven't told you about the best bit yet.”
“There's more?”
“Oh yes. I've managed to use an anti-gravity cell from the ship to link into the mental coms unit. So, if you need to jump, or even fly a short distance to escape a horrible fate, then you can do so.”
The crew were astounded, each staring at the grey device in front of them.
“How about language; can it assist in translating their dreadful grunts?”
“Ah, I’m pleased you asked. I have inserted a microprocessor with a full analytical program. Once you are mentally tuned to the device, if you want to speak in their language, you tune in and think in your own, and it will transmit to you the words in the other language, and it will translate anything spoken to you in the same way. It is completely silent, operating on a mental level only.”
This impressed everyone.
“What power source does it use?” one asked.
“It's a simple thermal cell that converts any natural heat or light into energy and stores it indefinitely or until used. Technically, it should never run out of juice, unless kept on ice in the dark.”
“How do we get it on?” the captain asked.
“Hold the two ends at the same time for about twenty seconds and it will tune itself into your DNA. Once it is ready it will allow you to open it and place it around the neck. If you let go at any time, it will return to the original shape and become stiff and immovable once more. It simply can’t be forcibly taken from you, unless they sever your neck.”
“Why did you need two test subjects if there is only one type of torc?”
Graton smiled, holding up a second torc.
It was similar to the first, but slightly smaller
“This is the female version.”
“What happened to the subjects?” someone asked.
“Oh, we couldn’t risk keeping them here. We’ve put them back from whence they came. I don't think either of them was aware of what happened.”
“What happens if one of the brutes manages to get hold of one?”
“Indeed, it is so sophisticated, that even if one of them should wear it, then it would align itself to their DNA without causing them any harm. They could wear it all the time and never know what they were wearing. They would, of course have access to the special powers, but without knowing what it could do, the chances of them doing it and surviving would be limited.”
“What, no harm at all?” asked JayBee, sounding almost disappointed.
“No harm, unless a male wore a female torc or the other way around. In which case, they would align to the gender of the torc. There would be an added problem if they wore it for too long. Because they are of the same DNA as the programmed device, if they were to wear it for longer than around five of their days, then their body would take on the changes as permanent and the torc would be redundant.”
“You mean they’d just be that new gender and that’s it?”
“Yes, but the powers that it held would still work, only they’d not be able to return to their original gender.”
“So, they couldn’t change back, ever?”
“Not unless they were able to use the male torc. I suppose, it would be best if we don’t allow them to get hold of one, wouldn’t it?”
The crew were not that interested in what would happen to the brutes.
“All this is fine, but do these things work?” the Captain asked.
“That, I’m afraid, is up to two of you to test.”
* * * * * *
The Lani people were afraid of the monsters that lived on the mountain. A hunting party had found them several moons ago, but despite being many hunters, three of the monsters breathed death at them and disappeared unhurt.
Unlike any of the beasts that the Lani had ever encountered, the tales were now a regular part of the camp fire story-telling. Small children were threatened with the monsters if they failed to obey their parents. Paintings on the hides depicted the squat and ugly forms of the monsters, with their hairless domed heads and enormous eyes. Two of the surviving hunters would tell the tales until everyone in the tribe knew them by heart, but for one young woman, her secret was something she could never share, for to reveal it would cause the others to kill her.
Phullima had been that other captive, caught while gathering berries and placed in a cage. Although unaware of her plight until later, her experience shocked and frightened her.
Because the two crewmen had delayed returning until they had caught a male, the anaesthetic that Phullima’s dart contained had begun to wear off prior to their return to their ship.
She first became aware of strange sounds and unusual movement. She moved, finding her hands and feet were bound as she lay against something soft and warm. Opening her eyes, she saw she was in a cage and that a strange male was lying next to her, bound in a similar fashion.
She was in a box made of poles, but the poles weren’t wooden, neither were they stone. She licked one and found it had a strange and very unfamiliar taste. The floor was firm, yet soft and pliable; almost as soft and spongy as moss, but perhaps as firm as bark. It was a strange substance. She couldn’t get a grip with her teeth to test its strength.
She remembered the dart, but couldn’t reach the sore place on her buttock. The movement ceased and the strange noises finished at the same time.
Believing she was a captive of another tribe, she feigned sleep as her captors sounded as if they might be coming for her. She realised that she needed all her wits if she was to hope to escape. She dared not think what possible reason they could have for capturing her and a strange male from yet another tribe. This man was snoring, so she knew she couldn't count on his help for a while.
She heard strange noises, which after a while, she worked out were voices, but not like any she had heard before. With strange whistles and clicks, they seemed unlike man-speak, and she'd heard many different tribes to know that they all sounded similar, even if they couldn't understand each other. These noises did not sound as if they were made by human throats.
Indeed, when she risked peeking at her captors, her breath caught in her throat and she passed into blissful unconsciousness, for her captors were the monsters!
It was, therefore something of a mystery when she regained consciousness to find herself back in the forest, lying at the feet of the unknown hunter, whom she had last seen bound and unconscious next to her in the strange cage. At his feet were the wrapped hide parcels of meat that all hunters carried away from their kills.
This time he stood, towering above her, and not looking too happy.
“What did you do to me?” the man asked. His dialect was strange, but she understood him, so she guessed him to be a Banna hunter, as his clothing and face scars would indicate. She had known a few Banna, and their language was not dissimilar to the Lani.