The Hooman Saga - XV - Serial Fiction

So far: The Hunting Council met. Sue was not its priority, ensuring the safety of the valley from the ferals was more vital. Two days of rest before they started pushing the ferals back...

Feb 01, 2025

There was an owl flying through the air, battings soft wings. Flying from perch to perch, looking at the mice and the small vermin in the field. Seeing the rabbits young and old. She saw them pushing through the grasses to find their food. And the owl saw the fox hunting both. While the possums and the raccoons were after anything they could find. The fruit that was in season. The mollusks. And even the carrion left from others' hunts.

The mice themselves were gathering grain. And she saw a mother mouse suckling her young in a hidden nest. All these while she was busy flapping her wings flying from tree to tree. It was a beautiful day.

And then she heard a boom somewhere below her and a net flew up. It trapped her and brought her to earth. She landed hard.

A human came over and blocked out the sun from her view. She struggled against the webbing but the net was too strong. And she found no opening. And down came a pitchfork from the human and everything went black.

Teacher rose from her bed with moisture on her lips, shaking. Another nightmare. She looked around the den and the hooman was breathing softly to the side. Everything else is just as she had left it when she had first slept.

She curled up to sleep, breathed deeply, and asked for calm. And the spirits sent her calm. She closed her eyes to rest again.

- - - -

Soo-she was dreaming of her world, the world before this one. The harsh moon. The harsh interior of the ship's pastel colors painted on the walls to make it more comfortable. More appealing More peaceful. All in terms of getting the best possible production from everyone concerned.

She graduated her final class in the children's classes. Now she was going to start training for her Job. It had been selected based on her talents. Her test scores placed her in all sorts of fields. She was strong. She was fast. She was brighter than most. She was ahead of her class in all studies. She even took on extra studies to learn more.

And then the day came of her selection board. She entered the chamber of the committee while they were sharing different recording discs. They played them back on their monitors. The ones inlaid into the table in front of them. They were discussing as she came in, then quieted when she took her seat.

The was a only single seat in the chamber today. These were the interviews. This was not a meeting of the minds. It was their minds to hers. She would hear their decision. And they had muted their microphones so she could not hear their talks as she came in.

Finally, the chairman cleared his voice and all others went quiet. "Sue Reginald, you presented a difficult choice for us. We studied all your records. We've known your test scores. We've seen your progress for all these many years. We've noted your disciplines..."

Sue thought for a second to one particular stunt she had pulled. Something to do with spreading raspberry jam around to look as if there's been an accident. But the chairman continued and she needed to listen.

"...and your case," the chairman went on, "presents a particular challenge to us. Because of what you know and what you can know. And your capabilities. There has been a request in your case, or rather a special choice.

"We've been informed by the Royal Council that your matter is not ours to decide. You been selected for the consorts Inner Group as a princess-in-waiting. And those duties commence immediately.”

With that, a door opened to one side with its customary hiss of pressure changes.

At this, Sue stood.

Two ladies-in-waiting brought in a mantle to cover her student work-clothes. For she would need no more student clothes after this. The jumpsuit she'd always worn would be replaced by fine dresses and all sorts of petticoats and things she would have to learn about.

But she was saddened.

“My family - would I see them again?" she thought.

But these hoomans could only read her face. The two ladies started escorting her through that new door. To a different world, one which was all bright.

And yet she resisted. She struggled and their grip only became firmer. For once she crossed that threshold, it would be a different world for her. She would never be able to visit her family in the same way as she had. She'd never see her friends again. So she resisted.

Yet their grip was like a vise on each arm almost lifting her off the ground so she could get no traction. The ladies-in-waiting seemed to grow on each side until they were guards in armor.

Their faces were passive. Those passive faces turned to shiny visors reflecting Sue's face at her. She started to scream but no sound came out. In fact no sound from anyone in the room. It became deadly quiet and the brightness became brighter until she could see nothing. She only felt the clamping grips on each arm...

And then she sat up, shaking, perspiring, and wondered what happened. Why this dream? Why now?

She was told by her grandma to listen to her dreams, learn from them. But this dream she'd had before. And this dream she'd been through before.

This was a lifetime she'd left behind and she wondered for her family what they were doing now, where they were, what they'd seen, how they had been treated.

She looked across the dark den, at Teacher who was breathing quietly, curled, sleeping with her tail over her nose. Seeming to be at peace with the world.

But Soo-she couldn't go back to sleep.

She rested, leaned up against the side of the den. She brought her pouch over to her. Even in the darkness was able to feel the trinkets she had brought back from the moon. She pulled the one trinket out, a pendant and it's trans-aluminum chain. In the darkness she felt the runes. Tiny words inscribed on it that she couldn't read in the dark. But she knew they said something by an old poet. She put the chain over her head, pulled her hair through the chain and settled it on her neck. As she felt her hair, she thought to herself, "Man, I have to do something with this." .

Soo-she looked over at Teacher, who hadn't moved. It was different having to learn to narrow band your thoughts all the time. On the moon, it didn't matter. Nobody could hear you think and words meant several different things. That she had learned while being a princess-in-waiting.

Royals had many ways of saying things. In many meanings. It wasn't like her old preacher, her spiritual advisor. They were called to their duty. They weren't selected by committee. They were selected by a higher being. Or so they said. No one you could see or feel. No one you could see or talk to, you could only feel. And so they went along with the rules of Man but given a choice they would follow the rules of the Spirit of the Great Being.

And that is why she was given this pendant, when she reached maturity. It had been handed down from time immemorial. The chain had been replaced, the attachment had been repaired. Who originally owned it was lost in antiquity, lost years before. How many people, how many young girls, had been like she was now?

Sitting there in the dark. Rubbing the edge of the pendant, across the tiny letters that were engraved there.

She had no knowledge. She had no idea. But sleep for her after that nightmare was not coming quickly. So she sat against the den wall and tried to still her heart. Breathing deeply, inhaling the aromas of the den inside and the night outside.

- - - -

The deer ran through the forest, away from an unknown assailant. Someone was chasing it. She could sense their presence and yet narrow-banded her own thoughts so they could not find her. She'd come down this trail to study the land. To see what had changed. To find the other deer. It was not yet the rutting season It was not yet the time for giving birth. And so she walked carefully, grazing as she went.

The young flowers were delicious this time of year. She knew only to nibble her share and not fill on anything. She remembered an old phrase: 'A fat deer is a slow deer; a slow deer is a dead deer.'

Her father left her with that understanding as he went off, as all males did between the seasons. She saw him now and then, or thought it was him. The hoomans would prize that rack that he carried and as he grew larger with the years.

And then she heard something crack behind her. A twig, or something. She froze, turned her ears in that direction to hear more closely what it was. And slowly she turned her head around and saw it was a hooman. With something steel in its hands. And the steel erupted with a big flash in the smoke.

She felt a deep tug in her chest. And suddenly was pulled over by the force of an unknown object like a huge rock thrown at her. Her breathing was coming hard. Something wrong in her chest. That hurt.

She laid on the grasses with wildflowers above her. Unable to move her back, unable to move her legs. And the hooman came, over her with a gun cradled in its arm. Parted its lips. Showed its teeth. It loosened a long knife in its belt. Crouched down so she could see its ugly face and then all went black. The last thing she saw was a knife. Close to her face, Close to her neck.

And the teacher woke up. Again perspiring on her lips, startled. She got to her feet.

Teacher glanced around the den and saw Soo-she looking at her.

"Just a dream." she sent.

And Soo-she sent, "Yes, I know."

Soo-she had heard her dream and yet sent no thought of herself or anything but comfort. "My dream was bad, too. I hope our days are better."

We’re now well into a new serial.

Surviving her near escape from the ferals. Sue is befriended by two female wolves, the Teacher, and “Tig-She” — as she adjusts to living among a pack of sentient wolves. And preparing to undergo a mysterious “probe” which no human before her has survived…

Of course there are some 18 more chapters after this. But you’ll have to stay tuned until next week to see how they get out of this…

For now, set your calendar to keep track of these new adventures. Every Saturday.