The Hooman Saga - XXIII & XIV - Serial Fiction

SO FAR: The feral wolves' leader discovers a pattern from the bonfires being set in the forest. Meanwhile, Sue returns to her past memories at the moon colony to share what she knows in her Probe.

Mar 29, 2025

XXIII

WITH A DOZEN SMOKY FIRES set in various clearings, the sentient wolf hunters had a ring that extended from in an arc across the forest. In their travels, they had found a dozen or more scents of feral wolves who had left in fear. None had been spotted yet, other than a few wolves running away.

The next clearing would be their last. Then they would make for the main camp of the biggest feral pack. Once they got there, the job was to defeat any feral they found and then defile the camp so it wouldn't be used again. This was the plan.

Just as they made the clearing, Snarl stopped them as he heard the sound of the interrupted howl from the ridge. He sent to Tig, "We're ahead of schedule. I'll take some hunters and check that out. It could be that we've got a flank attack coming.”

Tig had his reservations, but Snarl hadn't been anything but cooperative since the Chief had dressed him down at the council. So he consented.

Snarl left with about half the hunters, more than Tig wanted, but enough to defeat any feral wolves they might run into out there.

Tig took the rest to build the last bonfire.

XXIV

SUE REMEMBERED HER GRANDMOTHER with fondness. Tough as nails, and able to out-cuss the foreman, she was also the kindest person Sue had ever met. Her grandmother also taught her tricks to do with her mind. Grandma would try to sneak up on her while her attention was on other things, to tease her with a scare. This happened so often that Soo-she would keep attention all around her no matter what she was doing. And often this kept her and those around her safe from accidents.

But she also was able to sense when someone was near, almost what they were thinking. Once Grandma couldn't sneak up on her anymore, the game changed. Grandma started projecting ideas, giving her false perception of what was really there. A wall that wasn't a wall, but was Grandma who looked like a wall. Ore carts sitting by themselves with a broken wheel was another disguise. Once at a celebration, she projected a banquet table - but when you approached, you'd find it covered with flies and bad smells.

After awhile, Sue would call her out after everyone else had left or gone ahead. Grandma would appear out of a shimmer and they'd both laugh about it. So Grandma taught her this "umbrella trick" she called it. There was no real use for umbrellas where it never rained except when they raised the moisture high enough to drip from the ceilings. This settled the dust and cleaned the air.

Sue and Grandma could even make people think it was about to start this type of raining, and so they'd leave the common areas for shelter. That way, Soo-she could listen to Grandma tell her stories of the old days before the cities rose from Earth for the moon.

No one could hear them, and everyone else was trying to keep dry because they'd only see the rain.

Grandma had said that she could talk to the youngest, and some of them could do these for awhile, but Soo-she was the first to really master that trick to any way. Soo-she wondered why, and Grandma said she thought it was because she spent so much time alone. When she was running the treadmill, Grandma was often on a bench in a corner of the room just listening. She'd been able to hear Soo-she grumble to herself and complain even though she said nothing out loud.

Grandma said she would also "talk" to the babies when they were young, and awake while everyone else was asleep. Some of the brighter ones, like Soo-she, could talk to her even while others were present. The trick was concentrating and not allowing yourself to get distracted. This was often how she would find out all sorts of gossip and secrets, since people would talk among the babies when they didn't think they were being heard.

Some thought Grandma was a bit odd, as she never explained why she did things. But she was almost always right, even when someone denied it. Grandma spent a lot of time looking after kids so the parents could do their time slagging, or just get a decent night's sleep. So she was able to know everything that happened, even in other colonies.

Sue asked once how she knew all that, and Grandma said that this was because all the colonies ran on the same schedule, so the babies were often all left alone at the same time. Those that were awake would talk to each other over a distance and tell marvelous stories of what they had heard. She also said this is why sometimes a baby will start giggling and laughing for no reason.

The problem, she said, was when they started talking. This was when they would quit sending to each other. Not because they couldn't, it was because they weren't supposed to.

Sue's days in the mines brought her into contact with many people. So she started testing to find if anyone else could send or receive. And she found some who could, but only when they were alone. None would admit it, because that would mean they were "crazy".

At night, Sue would sometimes lay awake with her eyes closed and watch the dreams pass by. These visions she couldn't say were hers or someone else's, but she seemed to feel when they were really someone else's. Often, she'd overhear someone the next day talking about a particularly crazy dream they'd had, describing just what Soo-she had seen in hers. But Soo-she never told anyone about her dreams, so this gave her more questions than it did answers.

At that, the whiteness turned her memories back to the present.

Opening her eyes, she saw Teacher laid out on her side, panting.

- - - -

THE FERAL WOLF LEADER skirted the clearing and picked up the trail of hooman suit scraps along the trail. Like breadcrumbs or a ball of string, it didn't take much for the wolf's keen sense of smell to follow it back to the valley. His hunters followed him as they went, right up to the rocky edge. At that they laid down to watch.

This trail was not a common one, and few wolves knew about this entrance to the valley. None of them were feral. Until now.

These wolves watched and waited. They rested. Across the valley there was some gathering of wolves in a circle of some sort. No other sign of any wolves nearby.

It was a fine day, otherwise. Now they knew the hunters were out. Here was a chance for revenge. It was time to watch, to plan. And a perfect spot to do it from.

We’re now closing in on the last episodes of this serial.

You’re now familiar with the sentient wolves, the escaped human Sue. The sentients are now hunting the feral wolves, protecting their own secret valley, while Sue undergoes her “probe” that shares what she knows about her life before her escape. But the ferals are more cunning than expected.

Now we are counting down the remaining chapters. There are less than ten 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.