Chapter 11 "Hell Dogs!"
"Of my wanderings I will briefly will tell, it was not like SSARG, or other planets, I roamed the hillside along ways, often hungry—beasts, savage as were kept on any planet, saw me, yet kept their distance, I think I had the smell of the Saneyhs still on my body, and surely in my cloths.
"I slept in caves with a fire by my side, encircled it somewhat, so the beasts wouldn't creep up if I could not instinctively sense them. There were no high trees of any kind, just savage beasts outside my caves each and every night catching the warmth of the fire as it drifted outside my entrance. I slew a few for dinner, evil doges, hell doges I called them, fangs as big as a walruses. The meat was tough, and close to the bone, a wild taste I had not had before, like sucking on a leather belt. I was surviving though, and that was all, perhaps like the cavemen on earth, long ago: ancestors, primitive savages of earth, now I was one, I was one of them, I had only the leopard men's cloth to keep me warm, the cloths they had given me, in the middle of a savage universe. It was a battle for existence and that only.
" Each day I would wait for the sun, and during the two plus hours of sun, I would rest under its glorious rays sucking up all the vitamin D I needed to activate my chemicals in my body, to reproduce what it needed to rebuild my immune system, for it was dying, and then came in the gray mist, a pale dawn of sorts, and my system would break down again. Perhaps that is why I loved SSARG or Earth, but didn't care for Moiromma, it had little sun, not as little as this planet, but little in consideration of earth.
I knew if I died this time, there would be no resurrection onto another planet, thus, vigilance was necessary for longer life. But on the other hand, danger lurked at ever corner of this valley, and its central plateaus."
Chapter 12 Siren's Philosophies On the Pale Planet
"Not sure if I was fully alive on this planet, that phrase, has more depth to it than I can express. Most people on earth just walk through decades blurred, on the surface of life, not fully alive, (so Siren told herself as she wandered the mounds and valley by herself for several months). Everything on the planet was like a flicker of light, weakly lit, then came a brighter one for two hours a day. These weeks and months life hammered at my brain as if it was burned out of life's orbit; now it was occupied with gathering firewood, food and all the basic needs. As I faced big jawed inhabitants, tormented by hell dogs, the moon oozing in and out of the planets orbit like a yoyo, it never ceased, each day was very predictable, perhaps that was good for the village folk, but for me it was, deadly.
"When I wandered about, I did find one quality or asset, I never had much of before, to think, to produce philosophies of life I suppose, to soul search as they say on earth, to roam all the inner valleys of ones mind. Perhaps the great God of the Universe gives each creature of reason this period to prepare themselves for death, for something, because during youth, one is to wild, too busy, too carefree, or careless to do any such thing, lest they find themselves imprisoned."
Chapter 13 Hell Dogs and Bear Beasts
[Beast Lake] As Siren ventured into the surrounding area, perhaps within a five hundred miles radius, she saw several hideous hell-dogs, fighting with a bear beast; they had three heads on them. She had killed a few in the past by stoning them to death by surprise, but this was not going to happen now, there were too many of them.
Close by a lake, she called 'Beast Lake,' she encountered these dogs battling it out with a hung 20-foot mother bear trying to protect her five foot cub. The creek was full of water, indicating precious space fish available for whomever could secure the rights to that little section, she watched in amazement as the giant bear tossed the hell dogs about, so Siren had told me with a glaring voice.
Said Siren with a quivering voice, "She had previous experience with these deadly dogs, and I with those deadly rats on SSARG, in both cases they seem to have had a high intelligence for their kind, and the hell dogs had tricks to corner the bear. Now She has a blood spotted hide, I could see it from the bushes I stood behind…I expected the giant bear to fall to its death at any moment, but its mother instinct would not let it, while the cub was in danger, again as in my old days, I found myself wanting to rise to the rescue, as I jumped into the battle, it stirred the dogs from the bear to me. The dogs sprung up at me, and with my stone chiseled knife I ripped the guts open of three, cut the throat of the forth one, and he went down crawling on the ground like a worm. Then the giant bear got back into its murderous mode, and with its powerful arms and claws, it disemboweled the five other dogs, killed one at a time quicker than you could make a 360-degree turn."
Chapter 14 Bear Beast Battle
"All the hell-dogs stiffened convulsively and lay dead a small distance from the lake. The bear-beasts grabbed its cub, looked at me, troubled, confused, but felt no threat from me, nor I of her for some reason we were not rivals for the moment. The bear's claws had torn into the flesh of all five dogs, their fangs torn out of their heads, their bellies opened and their insides poured out onto the ground in a wide pool of blood.
"I built a fire as the cub and her mother ate the five dogs, and I was allowed to tare some of the meat off the bones as well, of course mine I cooked, and theirs well, they ate raw.
"I had no more stamina, I had to rest for three days thereafter that enduring battle, and the young mother stood by as if to insure no one harmed me, or her cub. She knew I was weakened, and perhaps knew who I was, and was surprised I was weakened. She was bulky, hairy and a giant taller than I, and more savage in appearance than the ones I've seen so many years ago.
"On the forth day, I saw twenty more hairy brut bears running towards our camp, as if they had gotten some radar signal from mother bear, whom was in trouble. With a great snarl, the bear-beasts coming at me, stood down, as they stood by their mate, checking her out, hissing over her and the cub. And they obeyed her every intention."
Chapter 15 The Kongardog Plains
"As I walked down the along side the side of the lake, and then the river that connected to it, Big bear and Junior Bear, as I got to calling them, I noticed in may places, the birds were of many colors, shapes, hues. They almost few silently, had it not been for the movement of the branch movements when they leaped. Some then world perch on large rocks, some gave out weird cries. All kept their distance form the bear and me. A few of the birds reached deep with their beaks to catch a space fish, almost skeletonized, as most are, but very nutritious.
"I walked for days and Mother Bear just followed me, then I shifted westward, and she still followed along, like a duck. There in the plains, I call the Kongardog Plains; I come upon a most curious animal, the pot-bellied dogs, otherwise known as the Kongardog.
"I had heard these animals were helpless to defend themselves (no claws or teeth; only paws and gums) and were great eating, but try to catch one of them, that is a feat in itself. Big Bear slapped one in the belly as it ran to get away from Big Bear, and jumped several feet in the air likened to a kangaroo, but when it fell from its leap, we had dinner, the slap was so powerful, it knocked the wind out of the dog, I do believe, and as it tried to catch its breath, Big Bear had already torn off its limps. I think I laughed so hard, Big Bear couldn't help but grin, and take notice, if not satisfaction."
Chapter 16 The Plains
"I felt a little safer on the plains—less meat-eaters to contend with. The nights were chilled, but the sun on the plains came out longer perhaps, all of four hours a day. Less greenness, and less water, yes, less everything, but meat eaters, as I said before, were less also, which was a blessing I felt, and search in vain one will for a good habitat.
"I noticed on the tenth-day I was with the Bear, she was eating the rocks, of which had a certain color and design to them, unknown on Planet Toso, Earth or even SSARG. They were all a bit orange looking. As I lay about, I watched the bear conspicuously, if not patiently, she picked out the smallest of the orange rocks, and when she went to chew them, a sap came out of them. A hot and soft sap; I then picked up one and put it into my mouth, and pushed down on it slowly, in which I felt safe doing since Big Bear did, then I chewed it, and it busted open, sweet as honey it was, thus, this was how the bears survived in crossing the plains, when they did."
Chapter 17 Orion's Moon/Homeless
Siren had drifted for months on the plains, it was more peaceful and the two bears, the cub and Big Bear followed her, homeless they all seemed to be. At night they'd look up at Orion, as they called it, the only moon the planet had, darkness gloomed around it, it seemed, except for its occasional light, reflections from a star (or sun) perhaps in their solar system, or beyond. The moon on its surface was perhaps as mysterious on it as it looked, and it looked more like a big asteroid than a moon. But nonetheless, it gave light as if the sun hid behind it halfway, even during its best exposure.
It was going to be a long life, Siren figured, if she didn't come up with a plan for it, or perhaps a short one. She had built a city fortress on SSARG, but she didn't have the energy, help, or motivation to do that here. Her daughter was someplace in the universe, and her mother likewise, in some unknown spot. Planet SSARG's moon perhaps, she had friends there, and life supporting elements for a ghost of her kind. So she was alone, Tangor and Rognat, her one-time space companions, were both gone other places in the Universe equally.
End Chapter [part of #17]
Tangor's Report of Sirens Death
I talked to Siren before I had discovered her death, and as I was told, it happened like this (according to Tangor):
"A heavy chain was wrapped around her like a snake, it was by way of several Jawbone members, as Siren had called them. They had found her with her friend, Big Bear and her cub; they, the seven Jawbones, took huge blocks of stone and hurled them onto the three, killing the cub and knocking unconscious Big Bear. That is when they chained her, with those strange looped chains. When she awoke her head was throbbing of course, she had not been killed yet. A rock had grazed her head only, and her recuperative powers brought her back to full life.
The missile or rock, inflicted, caused a scalp would, but infected it was. As they carried her back to their village, hundreds of miles, she died on the way. So simply a death for such a hero, it is hard to digest. I would guess the long walk, the shackles, the wound, dehydration, the infection, and the cold, it all played a part in her death. And the Leopard men spoke with primitive resentment towards me, snarling, but my weapons froze them in their tracks, with fear, thus, when I killed three of them, simply by pulling the trigger, of my space gun, I evaporated them in front of there own kind, this provoked no more wishful thinking of overpowering me. And there is really no more to say, on the matter, I'm sorry.
Note: History of the story: originally started at the café, El Parquetito's in Lima, Peru, on 6/28/2006, done in chapter form, in the first and third persons, as it changes from chapter to chapter, or can, so it originally was constructed to do. Chapters 12 to through 14 written and constructed 7/3/2006; Chapter 15 and 16, written July 4, on America's Independence day, holiday, in Lima, Peru, as well as the end chapter, #17; October, 28,2006, chapter 14 through the end was typed from the written form on the back of the restaurant's napkins.
See Dennis' web site: dennissiluk.tripod.com |
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