Wolves and War

WOLVES AND WAR

Candy Rae

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SMASHWORDS EDITION

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Wolves and War

Copyright © 2013 Candy Rae

All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the author.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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Mary – S Illinois, USA

I found this book to be totally fascinating – it’s a very unique look at species not normally known to be sentient; characters are well done and the story leaves you waiting for the next instalment. What a great story!

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Wolves and War is dedicated to my husband Jim. Without his support I would never have begun to write and Planet Wolf would never have been anything more than a dream.

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BOOKS BY CANDY RAE

PLANET WOLF - Wolves and War - Conflict and Courage - Homage and Honour - Dragons and Destiny - Valour and Victory - Paws and Planets - Tales and Tales - Ambition and Alavidha

DRAGON WULF - Journey and Jeopardy - Gossamer and Grass - Flames and Freedom

T’QUEL MAGIC - Ephemeral Boundary - Enduring Barrier - Eternal Bulwark

Kill by Cure

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Artwork Copyright © 2010 Jennifer Johnson

Proofreading by Irene Rixson, Auchterarder, Scotland

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Prologue

Chapter 1 (Northern Continent)

Chapter 2 (Northern Continent)

Chapter 3 (Northern Continent)

Chapter 4 (Northern Continent)

Chapter 5 (Northern Continent)

Chapter 6 (Southern Continent)

Chapter 7 (Southern Continent)

Chapter 8 (Northern Continent)

Chapter 9 (Northern Continent)

Chapter 10 (Southern Continent)

Chapter 11 (Southern Continent)

Chapter 12 (Southern Continent)

Chapter 13 (Southern Continent)

Chapter 14 (Southern Continent)

Chapter 15 (Northern and Southern Continents)

Chapter 16 (Northern Continent)

Chapter 17 (Northern Continent)

Chapter 18 (Northern Continent)

Chapter 19 (Northern Continent)

Chapter 20 (Southern Continent)

Chapter 21 (Northern Continent)

Chapter 22 (Northern Continent)

Chapter 23 (Northern Continent)

Chapter 24 (Northern Continent)

Chapter 25 (Northern Continent)

Chapter 26 (Northern Continent)

Chapter 27 (Southern Continent)

Chapter 28 (Northern Continent)

Chapter 29 (Northern Continent)

Chapter 30 (Southern Continent)

Character List and Glossary

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PROLOGUE

In the twenty-fourth century, a convoy of seven spherical deep-space vessels set out from the main space facility that sat in permanent orbit over a dying Earth. Six were directly bound for a colony world light-years away.

The seventh ship was different. Although the World Coalition Prison Ship Electra would eventually head for Riga to drop off the much needed heavy machinery, tools and transport vehicles, it would first make a detour to another, less hospitable planet, where it would unload its animate cargo before re-joining its sister ships. The Electra’s animate ‘cargo’ was made up of some of the vilest criminal classes on the planet.

The journey of the seven ships was planned to take twenty years. The on-board living quarters were extensive. The colonists spent the time training for their new lives in the ship sections designed for that purpose and were looking to the future with a great deal of optimism.

Twelve years out from Earth, disaster struck.

The seven ships plunged one by one into a huge cosmic storm and only two survived. One was the World Coalition Colony Ship Argyll with some eight thousand colonists and crew on board, the other the WCPS Electra, carrying twenty thousand male convicts.

Independently of each other and against all odds, both ships endeavoured to find and safely land on a planet that could sustain human life.

Unknown to the humans, they were not the only sentient life forms inhabiting this strange new world.

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CHAPTER 1 (Northern Continent)

The WCCS Argyll entered the atmosphere, heading towards the soft flat area designated as the landing site.

Prepare for landing.

The klaxon gave two sharp toots.

Commander Stuart MacIntosh flicked the toggle on his console that turned the thrusters over to manual control. His fingers moved over the keypad. The ship descended, heading towards the soft marshy ground. Tension mounted.

The reversing thrusters fired. The manoeuvre was not as effective as it would have been in deep space; the thruster-units were not designed to operate in above zero atmospheres but they did slow the Argyll down. Before the engines had a chance to stall, Stuart pressed the yellow button warning the engine room that he needed that bit of extra power for the landing manoeuvre itself. Petty Officer Jim Cranston reacted at once.

Both men’s index fingers had been hovering over the improvised landing buttons. The Commander nodded. Two fingers pressed down. They heard the engines responding, labouring mightily to keep the ship in the air long enough to achieve her landing trajectory.

* * * * *

The mesmerised bridge crew gazed at the scene unfolding on the screens. The land was approaching so very fast, the ground rushing up to meet them.

At a nod from Stuart MacIntosh the young engineering lieutenant cut off the engines. The WCCS Argyll plunged the remaining few metres to the ground, still maintaining some forward momentum, hull protesting. Metal screeched, and anything not securely bolted down bounced around, as she landed on their new world, ploughing through anything that got in her way. Bushes and trees were swept aside and she left a swathe of destruction behind her. She began to slow down as the bottom of the sphere met the resistance that was boggy marshland before swaying to a stop.

There was silence, broken only by loud bangs and thumps as items dislodged in the descent settled themselves.

Against all the odds, they had made it; they were safe, for the moment.

Jim Cranston and Stuart MacIntosh’s eyes met, each mirroring the other’s relief at a job well done.

The challenge of getting the colonists to Planet Rybak had been accomplished. Now they must meet the challenge of survival.

* * * * *

The colonists stripped the WCCS Argyll of anything remotely salvageable, blissfully unaware that they were being watched.

The natives of the planet were more than a little interested in what was going on.

Their wide patrol had come across the frantic activity beside the marshlands when investigating the reason why the large herd of silly kura who usually inhabited this part of the coast had suddenly decided to stampede towards the forest as fast as their short legs could carry them.

Now they knew the reason why.

It was not an incursion of Larg as they had first thought. The peculiar creatures hammering away below did not remotely resemble their eons-old enemies, the Larg. They walked on their two hind legs for a start, and did things with their forepaws and chelas that the Lind could not have imagined in their wildest dreams.

The rest of their patrol went back to report to the Commander of their Lindar. Kolyei and Tarmsei dug themselves deep enough down into the dry mud of the high ground at the edge of a small copse of trees so that not even the blue-pointed tips of their furry ears could be seen, and settled down to wait. From time to time, and with understandable caution, they lifted their heads and gazed at the activity down on the plain, wonder in their eyes.

The strangers did not appear to be coming their way, so the two Lind began to converse. The language of the Lind was rich and diverse and spoke of a culture deep in knowledge and tradition. The two discussed the situation at length; their conversation ceasing only when one or both raised his head to survey the amazing scene below.

The Lind’s vocal speech pattern was augmented by colourful and diverse images and feelings, which they placed into each other’s minds when words were not enough to fully describe what they were trying to say aloud. The Lind could converse telepathically in words, but it took a great deal of energy and effort. So the ability was usually reserved for emergencies and for when one wished to have a private conversation, perhaps with one’s mate.

Think you Tarmsei, that these creatures are dangerous? asked Kolyei.

They have entered the rtathlians, Tarmsei answered.

But not, think I, to make war upon us. Look, they have ltsctas with them. Ltscta was the Lindish word for ‘young one’. A Lind did not reach adulthood until he or she reached the age of fourteen summer seasons and until then was known as a ltscta.

They are not Larg.

Many things are not Larg.

Think you that these strange two-legged creatures come from the skies above? asked Tarmsei after some thought. Myself, I cannot think of another rational explanation. Indeed, look you at that huge shiny round thing that sinks into the wetlands. They must come from the skies as with our oldest legends that are sung about the Lai.

There was silence as both thought about what the arrival of these strangers portended. For almost the first time in his life, the normally insouciant Kolyei found himself lost for words.

* * * * *

The colonists had no idea about the interest they were generating and on the solid ground some half a mile from where the WCCS Argyll lay, they were working hard to build temporary shelters before nightfall. Everybody had disembarked, it being the considered opinion of the officers and the other specialists that the ship was in far too precarious a position for anyone to remain on board. Her tonnage was forcing her down into the boggy ground that had been their saviour on landing, but which was now inexorably swallowing her up. The one geologist on board was of the opinion that even the ship’s upper entranceways would be submerged within a few days.

The evacuation and landing plan was working well, with only one potentially fatal mishap.

In a rash moment, a group of pre-teens decided to explore the immediate vicinity on their own, while the adults were too busy to be aware of any mischief they were up to. They evaded those who were supposed to be looking after them and ventured some distance north of the ship. Poking around with sticks of wood they found lying on top of the marshy ground, two of them managed to fall into a deep and muddy pool of stagnant water. They were only saved from drowning by the prompt action of their fellow miscreants and with a great deal of effort on the part of the adults frantically summoned to their rescue.

All participants in the escapade got a severe fright and the perpetrators received a sound telling-off by no less a personage than the Commander himself. Stuart MacIntosh did not mince his words. It was five very chastened boys who later joined their compatriots for their evening chores. The marshy ground and everywhere else outside the marked perimeter was placed out of bounds for all those aged under fourteen and the five became very unpopular.

Guards were detailed to protect the perimeter. Adults were erecting shelters; others were preparing meals from the pre-packed foods. Temporary nurseries had been set up, staffed in the main by youngsters and older adults deemed too frail for heavy labour.

The land was strange to their eyes, ears and noses. There were alien smells and even stranger noises. The air had a spicy tang to it, resonant of lemons and nutmeg and it smelled wonderful to those accustomed to the recycled air of the ship. Scouting parties investigated the immediate vicinity and did not find anything of a threatening nature, but it was still an unknown land, fraught with unknown perils.

When dusk fell, the colonists from the WCCS Argyll settled into an exhausted and uneasy sleep as the Lind continued their vigil.

Can you sense thoughts from them? murmured Tarmsei after a while.

Too many, answered Kolyei, some strong, others not.

They stored up this piece of information to add to their report.

When night came again, the two Lind flitted away quietly from the noise and disruption that was the colonists and sped off to report their findings to the rest of their Lindar, the warrior section of their rtath, their pack.

At pack Zanatei Lindar’s dom, a half-sun’s hard running away, all was in turmoil.

Heated discussions were in progress when the two scouts arrived. The atmosphere was tense.

At the edge of the circle Tarmsei and Kolyei waited to be asked by the Susa to speak, listening hard, both with their ears and minds, to what their fellow Lind were saying. They sensed acute agitation and in some cases intense anger that the rtathlians were being disturbed in this way. A bloodthirsty minority was in favour of rushing down on the encampment and slaughtering all they found there.

The two looked at each other in consternation.

: This will be very tricky : said Tarmsei in a tight beam of telepathic speech to Kolyei.

: Yes : answered his friend. Kolyei was a master of the understatement, even for a Lind. : We must be most careful of our thoughts and words :

The large white Lind in the middle of the circle motioned for them to approach. His name was Afanasei and he was the Leader, or Susa of the Lindar. Kolyei and Tarmsei bowed their heads in respect before taking their places.

Tell us of your findings, ordered Lindar Susa Afanasei. Permit that Tarmsei and Kolyei speak. Be silent. The last two words were barked out as a command and with an accompanying growl.

It was obeyed at once. Afanasei did not raise his voice often but when, on rare occasions he did, every Lind paid heed.

Kolyei and Tarmsei had planned in detail what they would say during their journey back to the dom but they were not sure of how their rtathen, or pack-mates, would react. Theirs was a warrior rtath. They were defenders of the rtathlians, the lands of their fellow Lind. This Lindar would be difficult to convince, used as they were to meeting all incursions with chela and tooth.

The strange creatures are not Larg, Kolyei began. There is no cause to kill.

There were low growls of disapproval of such a sentiment from some of those sitting in the circle.

Kolyei continued, in no way intimidated. We of the Lind battle only our enemy the Larg who destroy and kill.

Tarmsei butted in, his snout raised belligerently. I have watched them for two sun-downs. This is not an army sent to kill in our rtathlians. There are ltsctas with them.

There were some mutterings from the back of the circle where the unmated females sat. The Lind were very protective of their own youngsters. The females would find an affinity with a species that loved and cared for their young. They would oppose an attack for that very reason.

Tarmsei continued, it is not our way to kill for killing’s sake. You must need good reason for attack. They give us none as yet. Different than us, yes, the two-legs are, but in some ways the same. We must watch, then decide.

There were more growls of dissent. Both Kolyei and Tarmsei could ‘feel’ the heaviness in the air.

We must watch and wait, advised Kolyei.

Afanasei was listening. Kolyei and Tarmsei received a sense of approbation from his direction. He spoke up now, quelling incipient barkings, shoutings and bayings with a severe look and a stare. One or two of the assembled hung their heads.

Shame. Judgement without knowledge is a bad thing, Afanasei pronounced. Do you not remember the teachings? We will send a message to Elda Zanatei. The two-legs do things we cannot. We know the Larg come in the next hot season and our spies tell us in great numbers.

I should like to know more. This came from the slight young female nearest to Kolyei. Their young they care for? Kolyei noticed that the blue stripe pattern on her face and around her withers was most attractive. He nodded.

"Then to attack, volat it would be. The young of any must be protected."

There was more growling and whining. Volat was the Lind term for the wanton and needless slaying of any creature. Their enemies, the Larg of the southern continent, committed volat. The Lind did not, being taught from their earliest years that to perform an act of volat was the worst crime any Lind could commit. The Lind killed to eat, not for fun.

We shall not attack. It was her final comment and she sat back down on her haunches and looked placidly around the circle. The females behind her whined in agreement.

Kolyei eyed her with much interest.

The Elda caught the eyes of two young Lind at the edge of the circle. They approached, tails swishing and eyes alight with anticipation.

We are to watch two-legs? they asked eagerly of white Afanasei.

No you shall report. Tell Zanatei all we have seen and said. Run fast.

Afanasei did have the mental telepathic strength to send his own report to his pack leader but such an undertaking would sap him of much of his energy. He had enough on his paws to keep control of the Lindar and, he reasoned, the two-legs were not an immediate threat to the packs. Also, he trusted Tarmsei and Kolyei.

The two looked and felt disappointed but ingrained obedience to the Susa won and they turned and sped away.

As for Kolyei and Tarmsei, Afanasei sent them back to watch the colonists after they had eaten their fill from a plump young kura caught by the hunters earlier in the day.

Many suns passed before word came back from the leaders, or Elda of the Lind. Kolyei, Tarmsei and others shared the watches and learned much.

These two legs could control fire! This was an amazing thing to the Lind, accustomed as they were to the fear of fire. In the forest glades of the Lind large firestorms often broke out in the hot season and many lives could be lost. They were also thunderstruck when they looked at what else the creatures could do. They held and used the ‘things’ they held in their forepaws and these ‘things’ were completely unknown to the Lind. The possibilities were enormous if they could but learn to communicate and then to work with, and perhaps share wood-space with these newcomers.

From their well-concealed dugout (it had to be well concealed – when the strangers had started exploring the countryside the watchers had had to move their hide further away – deep inside a large prickly dugo bush on a nearby hillock) they saw that the two-legs were taking insufficient precautions against hostile attack. The perimeter fence of their domta was only half the height of an adult Lind and wouldn’t hold back the hordes of Larg for long, however valiantly it was defended.

We must warn them, growled Kolyei.

Tarmsei urged caution.

Can we not go closer?

You are incorrigible, Kolyei my friend.

Kolyei cocked a pointed ear in inquiry.

You are the most incorrigible Lind I have ever known.

Kolyei’s plea had been full of wistful longing. He was renowned amongst the members of his pack for his eagerness to explore the unknown and the new, which was why, if Tarmsei thought about it, Kolyei was one of their Lindar’s best scouts.

Have you forgotten all training? Tarmsei asked with a lopsided grin.

Kolyei looked shamefaced as Tarmsei continued. You shall not move one single paw closer to these strangers than where you are now. I have lost too many of my friends and family in battle to lose any more.

Kolyei sighed in frustration but did follow his friend’s advice.

The watches continued. Regular updates were relayed west to the Elda of Lind.

During this time of watching and waiting the young female that had spoken that first night in the circle approached Kolyei. I wish to see the ltsctas of the two-legs, she requested.

Kolyei was happy to comply, taking her with him on his next watch. Tarmsei was only too glad of the respite from the often boring watches. He was not as interested in the situation as Kolyei who felt a strong compulsion to get closer to the newcomers. Once at the dugo bush she hunkered down beside him and with great daring, lifted her head up to survey the scene below. She gasped in surprise and her head came back down at once.

Radya, said Kolyei with concern. Are you alright?

Yes, she replied and raised her head for a longer look. They spent the rest of their watch in silence and after this Radya often accompanied Kolyei on his watch-shifts.

At long last the Gtratha, or High Council of Eldas came to a decision. Orders went forth to all the packs.

The newcomers were not to be attacked. They were to be watched and as much learnt about them as possible. More watchers were detailed to keep a close eye on the settlement, now sitting proud on a substantial area of dry ground and surrounded by a low palisade.

Other Lind were detailed to keep an eye on the hunting and exploration parties and to report back on how these creatures dealt with the land and wildlife. It came as a great surprise to the Lind when they heard of the rounding up of numbers of kura and other animals. After much discussion it was decided that this was not a dangerous thing. After all, the two-legs were slow, very slow compared with the Lind. They could not hunt the Lind way. It was sensible of the slow running two-legs to keep their meat nearby.

The reports continued to be favourable. The newcomers did not kill for killing’s sake. They cared about their surroundings and for their younglings. It was decreed that closer ties were to be formed. The Larg would come in the summer bringing with them the killings and the maimings. The Lind would warn the newcomers of the Larg. In return the two-legs would join with the Lind to defend the land. Both species would benefit. Both species would survive.

Kolyei’s report that he could sense some of the two-legs’ thoughts was heeded. Some watching Lind were also being drawn to others among the newcomers in much the same way as when a Lind was drawn to one of their own as a potential mate. It was all very strange.

Kolyei himself found his thoughts straying in one particular direction. He sensed strong emotions emanating from a young female. Using these emotions as a focus he had little trouble singling her out from the other youngsters gathering fruit at the edge of the lian. Radya, who accompanied him often now, was just as attracted to a young male youngling slightly smaller than the female.

From his hiding place in the dugo thicket, Kolyei tried insinuating some simple thoughts into the young female’s mind and to his surprise, found it to be extremely receptive, much like the mind of a young Lind. One day he became aware that a rainstorm was in the offing, common enough in this season. He sent a tentative warning straight to the youngster and, to his great satisfaction saw her look at the sky then dash back to the settlement as fast as she could go. He didn’t think she even got slightly damp.

One further ruling from the Gtratha pleased the adventurous Kolyei greatly. It had been decided that contact must be made. Wary of a negative and potentially lethal reaction if a large Lind appeared outside their domta (the Lind had by now seen bow and arrow in action) it was decided that a group of twelve should be detailed to send thoughts to those two-legs receptive to them, preferably the young who would be able to adapt, it was hoped, more easily to contact with an alien species.

The plan was that the twelve should ‘persuade’ their chosen two-legs to come with them deep into the rtathlians of Lind. There were to be no confrontations. The younglings were to be spirited away secretly. It was a tall order, but the twelve chosen, chosen because they had already established some form of mental contact with one of the young two-legs, started work on their more detailed plan at once.

When the time was right, they would put this plan into action.

* * * * *

For the newly-orphaned Tara Sullivan, the girl to whom Kolyei was attracted, these first weeks were uneasy ones.

Although the nights were warm with a soft breeze she wasn’t sleeping well. She was sharing tent-space with other girls her age or a little older. Their chatter unsettled her; they talked of the future and of their own families. At this point in Tara’s life, she didn’t have any plans and had no family left to chatter about. The girls largely steered away from talking about her recent loss so Tara found herself, on the whole, ignored.

She was part of a team whose responsibility it was to gather seaweed from the shore and to go wood gathering in the area next to the trees.

The team was under the command of a bright-faced lad of sixteen, therefore almost grown-up to Tara’s twelve-year-old eyes, whose mission in life seemed to be to lead the most successful work-group in the colony. Bill, for that was his name, knew what had happened during the space storm when Tara’s parents and little brother had died and was kind to her in his own way, keeping her beside him as they toiled on the beach and at the fringes of the woods. The two talked about generalities and Bill did not mention his own family.

As more cabins were built and the temporary campsite began to empty, Tara remained.

Stuart McIntosh ordered that not all the cabins should be built in the immediate settlement area. Streams and rivers were plentiful and as the majority of the colonists were from farming stock they were naturally keen to branch out and to stake their claims in the surrounding countryside.

Once the botanists and other scientists had found out which native plants were poisonous and which were not, there was little to stop them. Indeed, the remaining food supplies taken from the Argyll were pretty well finished by now and there was little choice but to sample the native edibles.

Test fields were springing up. One ground-root in particular became very popular. It grew in profusion everywhere you looked and was packed full of nutrients and vitamins. Uncooked it was harsh on the taste buds but when heated had a pleasant, if unfamiliar, taste.

All cultivation was done by hand; even children as young as ten were expected to work part of the day. Willing teams of colonists tended the embryo crops. The wild cereals were being studied with a view to finding suitable edible varieties that could be grown to mill down for flour.

Small fruit trees and bushes were transplanted from the woods nearby to form baby orchards. Tara’s work-group moved from the beach and spent many hours gathering the young plants.

Apart from the loneliness, Tara was far more content than she should have been.

Perhaps the dreams had something to do with it. The haunted nightmares about that last day together with her family began to disappear and she was sleeping soundly each night. Colour came back to her cheeks. The medics put the improvement down to fresh air, hard work and time.

Tara knew better.

At the end of the second month, Tara moved from the camp to a small cabin with a group of six other children who had neither parents nor close family. In the tiny hamlet were two other cabins.

A river rippled at the hamlet’s edge that provided water and also fish that the children learned to tickle out and which provided a tasty alternative to their, as yet, limited diets.

The two other families kept an eye on the children in the third cabin, which had two adults in nominal charge, an elderly lady who had lost her family during the space storm and another younger woman who was not best pleased with her appointment as assistant foster mother to seven children.

Tara did not like her and grew increasingly unhappy with the situation. When the woman decided that enough was enough and left one night, she shrugged her shoulders and got on with it. She was doing the majority of the chores anyway she reasoned and said as much to the other adults in the hamlet. The desertion was not reported to the authorities.

The eight of them managed well enough. If Tara wasn’t exactly happy, she wasn’t massively unhappy either.

* * * * *

The weeks passed. The Lind continued to watch.

The main settlement was, by now, built although it was still rough and ready. A narrow river ran through the centre and provided the settlers with fresh water. There were plans to build water and sewerage pipes. Both outer palisade and buildings were built of the hardwood trees found in the nearby forest. The trees on this planet were of two types: hard and soft. The latter was dry and fibrous and was primarily used for burning, although experiments were exploring its use as matting for roofing and floor coverings.

The hardwood was used for projects that needed strength. One type proved to have much the same attributes as steel and was being used as such. The single metal-smith amongst the colonists was on a rapid learning curve in this area, making ploughs, shovels and knives out of this strange new substance.

Dogs and cats from the ship roamed the settlement, providing both an early warning system for any predators, although none so far had shown themselves, and as a means of keeping down the small native pests. A particularly annoying creature was a small burrowing animal that resembled the Earth rat but without a tail. It could eat its way into any storeroom and devour twice its own weight in food within a few hours. Unfortunately, there were a lot of them about.

More farms, villages and hamlets sprang up in the fertile plains to the north of the landing site and west of the marshlands. To the west, a few miles from the main settlement, was a long forested hill. This forest was very extensive and only the fringes had been explored. A few outlying farms were being built at the edges.

Small groups of intrepid settlers built their cabins on the shoreline, both east and south of the settlement, intending to satisfy the colony’s need for protein by farming the seas.

A number of rabbits had managed to escape from their pens during the early weeks and were thriving in the wild. Although the biologists were worried about the impact this would have on native species, the majority of colonists were far too busy to worry about it. The remaining rabbits were being bred as a means of providing extra protein. Children were encouraged to think of them as a resource to be eaten and not as pets. Guinea pigs were acceptable as pets; there was not enough meat on their bones to make resource breeding a viable option. The children were more than delighted with this decision and the animal lovers amongst the adults felt much the same way.

They had been lucky, arriving at the beginning of the summer season when game, fruit and vegetables were plentiful. There was time to prepare for winter. A start was made to replace the larger livestock lost in space with native species.

The ruminant herds which had been recorded by the probe were numerous, and more importantly, edible, although the meat tasted oily. The livestock breeders were working on the problem but without much success. The seaweed the animals preferred was on the oily side and proved, when attempts were made to cook it, to be inedible by humans.

Three types of native animals inhabited the paddocks. One herd consisted of some eighty beasts that resembled the mountain goats of Earth, but with much shorter legs. They had woolly coats of a dull brown and as well as being edible, provided wool for clothing and milk that could be made into a crumbly cheese with a tangy taste. Gentle in temperament, they were easy to catch and had adapted to captivity well.

The animals that inhabited the second paddock were not so gentle. Milling about restlessly was a small herd of long necked creatures that were being bred to satisfy the colony’s need for meat.

Eighteen creatures that resembled Earth’s New Forest ponies inhabited the third. They were proving even more difficult to tame but there were high hopes that eventually these eighteen might become the nucleus of the colony’s transport system. There was no other way to get around except on foot with the consequence that exploration of all but the nearby area was patchy at best.

The planet had a ten-month yearly cycle and just two seasons. The colonists were working every daylight hour to reap and store enough edibles to see them through the first all-important winter. Thankfully, there were plenty of wild nutritious edibles that could be gathered and before long storerooms were piled high with the drying fruit and roots that had been gathered in from the plains and edges of the wooded areas.

It was beginning to feel like home for many but for twelve youngsters, it was an unsettling time.

The dreams had begun not long after landing. The twelve felt compelled, in a way they did not understand, to keep silent about these dreams but some adults, especially the mothers, were beginning to suspect that something was seriously wrong. As it was a tenuous suspicion, they did not report it.

* * * * *

CHAPTER 2 (Northern Continent)

The hardwood door slammed shut behind Tara. It was raining hard.

I’ll be soaked through within minutes, she thought with a jaundiced look up at the sky. Like last night when I was dreaming.

They were the strangest dreams she had ever had. There was a peculiar compulsion about them, a compulsion to find out more about where they were coming from. Over the last few nights the compulsion had grown stronger, to that of a most foolhardy one – to leave the safety of the settled area and venture out into this exciting new world, to explore, to find out why she was dreaming in this way. She also felt a tenuous sense of belonging, to whom or what she did not know, but she wanted to find out.

Pulling the hood of her grey cloak over her head, she shivered.

A crotchety voice called out. Don’t forget to bring back enough firewood to last us until tomorrow.

Tara sighed again. Still, it was good to be out.

The cabin at the edge of the small hamlet that housed the orphaned youngsters was cold and dismal this early in the morning. The nights were getting colder. Snow had already appeared on the tips of the mountains in the north.

The voice continued. You can fill the water cask when you get back.

Like Tara, Mrs Mackie had been the only member of her own family to survive the cosmic storm. She was somewhat rambling and incoherent on occasion, but