Star Kitten (37 page)

Trees had fruits very much like mangos and
avocados. Pineapples, coconuts, even bananas grew there too and
tasted quite delicious (or at least very similar to the Earth
versions of them). Berries from trees could be picked right off
bushes in the morning to make for a decent little breakfast while
searching for Cassowary eggs. All one had to do was find a nest
that had been left behind by a hen who had moved off to get water
in the morning. Hunters learned to grab two big eggs... then run
like hell, because those angry mother hens often gave chase; and
their bite could slice through flesh and break human bones quite
easily. It actually happened to egg hunters a number of times.

Rains came right before dawn every morning;
replenishing little reservoirs the Nausties created to collect it
using large banana tree leaves and some strategically placed empty
liquor bottles. No issue with gathering lake or pond water and
risking Giardia from bacteria. Bottles would refill every morning
with fresh drinking water.

It was just so nice living there.... Many
dreaded ever leaving the place. Some unfortunately never would; and
that's tragically what ultimately happened to most of the Zorg
crewmen.

Almost all of them fell quite immediately
under the spell of the jungle! In fact they left the ship and
TOTALLY went native, though it was—quite sadly—to result in their
own gory demise. The Zorgs on board were mostly crewmen who
operated minor functions within the ship. Communications officers
and technicians most of them were. Technically civilized and
intelligent beings at the beginning of the day, they worked and
obeyed orders without question on the ship. Totally reliable, loyal
and trustworthy; they were brave in battle, cool under pressure,
and showed great ingenuity when it came to problem solving.

But once restored to a natural island jungle
environment—with no civilization nearby besides the ship
itself—they devolved rather quickly into their most debase, ancient
form of natural existence. Captain Razorback didn’t have the heart
to hold them back either. He just let them go. He could see them
transforming already; once they landed on the island; and soon it
was no use trying to keep them at their posts. They needed to be
set free and allowed to roam. They didn't want to man their
posts... stopped showing up for duty… disappeared from the ship for
hours. They just wanted to hunt tiny island rodents like chipmunks,
rabbits, and mice. They yearned to go live in the trees, or crawl
through the jungle floor on their bellies searching for food,
flicking their tongues to sniff the air.

Captain Razorback just figured they'd go get
it out of their systems for a while and then be ready to head back
home with the rest of the crew in a few weeks. And it was only fair
since the humans and Pumalars were essentially doing the same
thing, getting back to nature out on the beaches of the island. Why
not just let them roam, he figured?

Problem was, the Zorgs
soon found themselves going from hunter of small rodents and mice
to becoming targeted prey themselves! No one thought of it at the
time, but the Zorgs out there in that jungle alone; not even
staying together in packs but hunting alone day and night? It was a
recipe for disaster. Wild Cassowaries were nearly as big as the
Zorgs themselves; and soon the giant birds were actually…
hunting the Zorgs as food
! Maybe it was their Zorg odor, but no one ever really
figured it out as to why. Roaming individual Zorgs scurried into
the trees and deep dark jungle for days living like ancient
Lizards. No one knew where they were; and no one heard anything
more from them either. But when weeks passed and not a single Zorg
had returned; human Cassowary hunters occasionally began stumbling
across carcasses of dead Zorgs which had clearly been pounced upon
by something really big… and then eaten alive!

The Cassowaries were quite girthed in the
torso, and had flightless wings which covered their muscular breast
but didn't expand much. They didn't need to either. Their legs were
quite strong enough to allow the giant birds to sprint, spring
forward, or jump up to catch fleeing prey. Their horned bill at the
front was adept at grabbing and tearing meat too; and their neck
was strong enough to enable their head to hammer down on an
opponent—turning their bill into a lethal weapon when fighting with
a rival rooster (or when goring a victim). They were omnivores
basically; and their meal of choice had always been small jungle
lizards or rodents; but they loved to feast on fruits or wild corn
too; which grew in the Porkonji plantation field. This helped with
their digestion. Yet now... here were all these plump four to five
feet tall lizards: slow moving, meaty and thick around the belly.
Easy to spot, too.

It was just so unfortunate
for the Zorgs. Of the eighty-seven who struck out from the
Warthog
that first week
to go live like ancient lizards in the jungles, only two were ever
found alive again; and both of them died a few days later after
being discovered... picked at and gored practically to pieces by
the giant birds.

By way of comparison, the Porkos from the
ship's crew just stayed with the ship and enjoyed living in the
interior of the island. Beaches didn't interest them anyway. What
Porkos liked was mud! Whole acres of muddy swamps were theirs for
the taking; and each morning the rains fell to soak the ground and
give the happy pig-like beings a soothing mud bath to start their
day. After that though, they pretty much spent their days studying
the crops and fields of their former brethren who'd tried farming
there; and gathering fresh food to eat. The wild corn growing... it
had amazing nutritional value, they found; and the seeds collected
from the harvested corn were predicted to be a wonderful addition
to the New Australian diet when they returned. Other than that for
the Porkos, the island was just a quiet relaxing escape from the
harsh life most had endured all those years in the mines.

In time though, the weeks had passed; and
there'd been no sign of Star Fleet at all. No inter-space
communications traffic to indicate anything was going on nearby. No
galactic dragnet hunting for Pirates was being spoken of on the
inter-space channels. Basically it seemed there was no reason to
hide out there any longer really. Probably it was about time to
just head on home. On top of that, ship indicators were detecting a
massive storm system brewing up on the planet; and absolutely no
one wanted to be caught on this island in the event of a
hurricane—least of all Captain Razorback.

It was just a fact of life for this
beautiful island paradise and really no way around it. Just like
the previous colonists who'd struggled and fought to make a living
here, the Nausties were going to have to flee the coming storm or
face their own ruin. Once the field flooded that their ship was set
upon, they'd have a devil of a time firing their propulsion jets
which were designed to lift the craft into orbit. In the end, only
the big island birds would reign over this tropical world. Only
they could endure the ravages of a hurricane and live to see their
descendants flourish there. The Nausties, despite all their
ingenuity and technology, were comparatively ill-prepared for such
a debacle.

Razorback traveled out to Vlad's private hut
and awoke him one morning with the news, saying basically,
"General, if you please... storm's a brewing. This is hurricane
territory, as you may recall." Phillip set out a tray of
freshly-gathered jungle fruit for Vlad and his guest. Razorback
thanked him, then continued, "We'd better get the troops and crew
on board and get off this planet. I've no ambitions of becoming a
Submarine Commander, you know?"

Vlad just rolled out of his hammock and
rubbed his head chuckling groggily, "Yes, I guess all good things
they must come to an end, my Captain. We knew this would happen
eventually.” He reached over and grabbed an open vodka bottle; then
guzzled down half of it, saying afterward, “It’s just rainwater
that Phillip brought me this morning.” Razorback snorted
humorously. Vlad gave that famous smirking smile of his; then wiped
off his mouth with the back of his hand adding professionally,
”I'll order my men and the prisoners on board immediately."

Razorback snorted in a nodding reply, "Yes
General, thank you... and we leave at dusk by the way, for New
Australia...."

Meanwhile back on New
Australia with the entire fleet having gone raiding; there were
lots of exciting new changes going on. Big plans were afoot... in
anticipation of their warriors’ triumphant return with hundreds and
hundreds of fresh, new females.

Slart Planners and scientists had been
working the past month devising and designing a brand-new domed
solar farming facility; which would span across the desert surface
and cover a five square mile area just like the old main terminal
dome which had already been converted mostly to solar farms.
Solomon liked the idea; and had them compile a report on all the
numbers, figures, projected completion, and building material
requirements for the construction. Then he had his staff calculate
projections on the food needs of the planet over the next five
years, the next ten years, and even the next twenty years. With all
this data he and his staff concluded what needed to be done. Farm
production would still need to pentuple for New Australia to ever
gain self-sufficiency.

So far, they'd already begun construction on
a new terminal facility on the planet surface which could garage
ships that had landed but needed refurbishing or repairs while
other ships could continue to use the loading bay. This had been a
big problem in the past with ships occupying the loading bay for
weeks while other ships had to land on the forbidding surface and
await their turn to offload. This new facility was a massive
three-sided building with an ingenious sloaping roof to ward off
sand storms. It was going to have a gigantic roll-up door which
sealed workers and spacecraft inside to work throughout the night;
and make Solomon's terminal operations far more efficient. Though
construction was extremely difficult on the planet surface,
Porkonji work crews adapted quickly and Earther craftsmen aided
their efforts working mostly at night wearing protective clothing
and breather suits to erect the basic structure of the facility.
Nausties were now confident they could construct permanent
buildings on the planet surface.

Therefore, at the next meeting of the Tribal
Confederation, Solomon (now functioning as delegate to the assembly
from the Schpleeftkorkii tribe) motioned for the creation of a
developmental committee to explore the possibilities of creating a
network of not just one, but eventually FIVE massive domed solar
farms. All would be accessed via the Service Tunnel network below
the surface. All would be in dimensions of about five square miles.
And all would be glassed over with tinted panes, irrigated from
glacier water below, and farmed by generations of future
Nausties.

To each delegation, Solomon’s staff passed
out drawings of the new proposed facilities, along with detailed
descriptions of their amenities and specifications. Solomon
described the farm complexes to everyone in the audience of fifty
Chieftains and their staffs, as they read along or perused the
artists’ renderings.

Massive shudders would cover the glass roof
too; so that in the event of a sandstorm, the facilities could lock
up tight and endure the ravages of the wind. Slart engineers
designed the concept as well as the mechanism for operating them
from inside the facilities. Basically these solar farms would be
nothing but giant reinforced greenhouses, but with a few
differences. There'd be small dormitory facilities attached to them
to house laborers; and the fields inside would be hydrated via a
pipe and hose system that would pump water up from the planet's
glaciers below into a reservoir located inside the new
building.

The entire facility would be airtight and
fresh oxygen would be pumped in from an oxygen generation plant
constructed for each location. These oxygen plants would actually
make their own oxygen—from water—by a process called electrolysis.
Electric current generated from solar panels on the roof, would
pass through water from one positively-charged electrode called an
anode to another negatively-charged electrode called a cathode. A
small concentration of salt in the water would conduct electricity.
In the process, water would split into hydrogen gas and oxygen gas.
Hydrogen gas would be pumped out of the airtight facility and
expelled through hoses; while the oxygen gas would be circulated
inside. The plants growing inside would complement this process of
course, by giving off their own oxygen as a natural byproduct.

As Solomon observed next in his
presentation, the latest population estimates on New Australia were
at about 84,312 beings from six different species. This first
census of the planet had been accomplished by requesting reports
from each tribe of its known membership—including female slaves.
And the population was soon to be growing, he assured everyone in
attendance. Already the mainly Schpleeftii tribes were starting to
report pregnancies in their territories; even if other species were
still not progressing toward repopulation currently. That said,
Solomon pointed out that with (hopefully) thousands more females
being brought back to the planet from Star Pussy, New Australia
should begin looking to the future in terms of population growth;
and the required feeding of its citizens.

Solomon concluded his speech thusly, “Food…
as we all know… is what has always been both our problem on New
Australia, as well as our solution to keeping the peace. Food is
what drove us to fight for our freedom. Food is also what drove us
into devastating Civil War. And now food is once again the key to
our self-sufficiency as a planet. Therefore, we must see to the
future of our home… see to the future of generations to come.”