Chapter Six
Chud-Loo
I, Kot-Nih, had to sift through the ruins on Chud-Loo to find out what happened to those unfortunates. As historian, I was blessed that many of its inhabitants had kept records of their activities. Between those items and the other physical clues, I believe we know what tragic events took place there. It was one of my more difficult tasks. I hope you will forgive me for taking some liberties and using my imagination to fill in some of the missing details.…
Di-Nah could barely contain her excitement at being ripened and destined to be a Hive-Mother. She did resent being sent away from Af-Gih’s Hive. The orbital space station was but one step to reach Kamah in the Sister binary star system where she would find her new hive. She had a passage on the spaceship “Young Mother,” which would depart in ten sleep cycles.
Bored, she released a powerful whiff of desire-to-mate odor in the close confines of the waiting area. She was eager to become the center of attention of males and begin mating. However, the masking scent used to hide each individual Hive’s odor wasn’t strong enough to suppress her odor stimulus. Immediately, two newly ripened Chosen-Males from different Hives raised their spines and started to fight.
Di-Nah should have known better.
The sterile male warrior in charge of the orbital space station dealt harshly with troublemakers. He flooded the area with a soporific gas. He barred Di-Nah from traveling with any Chosen-Males and ordered her to leave on the next spaceship.
Di-Nah did not know the next ship would not jump through space-time to Kamah, but would go to Chud-Loo, the planet of exiles.
Tuh-Kar adjusted his breathing pack and tightened the wire brace holding the transmitter’s tower. The domed structure perched on the ridge of bleak gray rocks disappeared for an instant in a flurry of wind-blown snow. A tall tower of spindly metal struts at the base of the dome jutted into the sky. Its guy wires reached up from the rock-strewn mountainside and thrummed steadily in the rising wind. At top of the tower, the spidery dish of the ground-to-space transmitter for the orbital radio navigation pointed to the heavens.
Even in the valley below, the air was far thinner than the highest point on Hool. Low in the sky, a pale yellow star—the Daughter—peered through breaks in scudding clouds. At this altitude, ultraviolet radiation turned Tuh-Kar’s hide black.
Tuh-Kar hadn’t risen in the hierarchy of the Disobedient even though he’d been one of the first settlers on Chud-Loo. His tendency to speak out got him undesirable work assignments such as this. This gave him no opportunity to breed, unlike others in the hierarchy. Now he was alone with a freshly ripened female who, in spite of being ugly and thin to the point of emaciation, still aroused him.
Why in the name of the Mother did I deserve to end up on this frozen hellhole as a worker? Di-Nah wondered. I was supposed to be a Hive-Mother on Kamah, to have Chosen-Males at my beck and call. She’d found Chud-Loo had too many females for her to be noticed and her desire-to-mate scent didn’t work in these Mother-cursed winds.
As a new exile, Di-Nah realized the Disobedient hierarchy did not trust her. To make matters worse, the cold killed my paat-kli and now my skin itches from lack of grooming. In the time I’ve been on Chud-Loo, I’ve had no chance to mate. I intend to change that and soon. The only male who talks to me is Tuh-Kar, the stupid fool who talks about everything but mating. He is almost impossible to manipulate. Almost.
“And I thought Hool was dry and a difficult place to raise food. This is worse,” Tuh-Kar said. “These mountains are filled with dangers that kill the unwary.” He looked up.
Di-Nah started toward the domed shelter.
“Di-Nah, come here and help me.” He tightened a guy wire.
“I’m freezing, Tuh-Kar. These heights scare me—”
“Don’t think about it.”
“It’s cold and this breathing pack is uncomfortable. The wind and noise is so unlike home. I want to go inside—”
“First, please tighten the connector by your foot.”
Numb from the cold, Di-Nah followed his direction. She wanted to get inside. She wanted to mate. As she bent to the task, she saw Tuh-Kar in silhouette. He’s aroused, she realized. Task done, she moved next to him and stroked his skin. “Tuh-Kar, you have turned an attractive shade of black.”
“Right,” Tuh-Kar said. “We’re free to burn ourselves black and work ourselves to death if we don’t starve first.”
“We have freedom to do those things only Hive-Mothers on Hool do.” Di-Nah continued stroking him.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Mate.” Is he mentally deficient too?
“When do we have time to mate? You tell me, Di-Nah, when do we have time?” He turned back to his work.