Tau Ceti Read online

  Tau Ceti

  An Ell Donsaii story # 6

  By

  Laurence E Dahners

  Copyright 2012 Laurence E Dahners

  Kindle Edition

  Author’s Note

  Though this book can “stand alone” it will be much easier to understand if read as part of the series including “Quicker (an Ell Donsaii story),” “Smarter (an Ell Donsaii story #2),” “Lieutenant (an Ell Donsaii story #3),” “Rocket (an Ell Donsaii story #4)” and “Comet! (an Ell Donsaii story #5).” I have minimized repetition of explanations that would be redundant to the earlier books in order to provide a better reading experience for those of you who are reading the series.

  This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only.

  Preprologue

  Allan Donsaii was an unusually gifted quarterback. He was widely recognized to be startling strong and was a phenomenally accurate passer. During his college career he finished two full seasons without any interceptions and two games with 100 percent completions. Unfortunately, he was never drafted because the pro teams felt he was too small.

  Kristen Taylor captained her college soccer team and was extraordinarily quick. She rarely played a game without a “steal” and usually had many.

  Allan and Kristen dated more and more seriously throughout college and married at the end of their senior year. Their friends kidded them that they were only marrying so that they could start their own sports dynasty.

  Their daughter Ell did have Kristen’s quickness, magnified by Allan’s strength and accuracy. The child also had a new mutation affecting the myelin sheaths surrounding her nerves. This mutation produced nerve transmission speeds that were nearly double those of normal neurons. Nerve impulse transmissions being faster, she had much quicker reflexes. Yet the new myelin sheath was also thinner, allowing more axons, and therefore more neurons, to be packed into the same sized skull. These two factors resulted in a brain which had more neurons, though it wasn’t larger and a more rapid processing speed, akin to a computer with a smaller scale CPU architecture that enables faster processor speeds.

  Most importantly, under the influence of adrenalin in a “fight or flight” situation, her nerves would transmit even more rapidly than their normally phenomenal speed.

  Much more rapidly…

  Author’s note

  “He, she, his, hers, him, and her” are not misspelled, this is part of the story. I believe you would rather discover the reason for yourself so will not give it away here.

  Prologue

  Dex rose onto hies toes, stretching hies neck to peer over the edge of the rocks near the border of the little meadow. Hies wings quivered involuntarily as hie resisted their effort to lift hies eyes a little higher. A wing beat would quickly give away hies location.

  Yes! Syrdian stood in the meadow, just on the other side of the rocks, sunning. Dex admired Syrdian’s pose; tall, neck stretched high, rare and gorgeous silvery yellow wings canted to the sunlight. Syrdian’s pose seemed relaxed, meditative, and peaceful.

  Dex had admired Syrdian for hies entire life it seemed. Watching Syrdian from afar, with intense… hope and… longing. Dex fantasized that someday, something would change so that hie might become a plausible mate for Syrdian.

  Beautiful, graceful Syrdian. In Dex’s mind the most desirable member of the Yetany tribe. Syrdian, whose rank in the tribe stood so high above Dex’s that Dex’s aspirations to win Syrdian’s love seemed laughable. But a young dalin could dream, couldn’t hie?

  The sounds of a strong wing beat came from Dex’s back-up-right and Dex dropped down from tiptoe and turned to cant hies own wings to the sun. Whoever was back there would surely see himr, but hopefully wouldn’t recognize that Dex had been on tiptoe peering at Syrdian. Rather they might believe that Dex and Syrdian just happened to both be sunning on opposite sides of the odd little group of rocks in the meadow, completely unaware of one another.

  Looking back-up-right, Dex recognized Qes’ distinctive wing beats even with the low quality vision of hies back eyes. Spying Syrdian, Qes stopped flapping and began gliding a smooth curve down to himr, back wings pumping gently to provide a little thrust. Dex’s heart sank. Handsome Qes nearly matched Syrdian’s desirability and hies parents ranked high in the tribe. While the tribe would laugh at Dex’s aspirations, no one would doubt the suitability of Qes for a mating with Syrdian. Qes and Syrdian had been spending more and more time with one another recently. And to approving glances from the elders.

  Worse, Qes might suspect Dex’s infatuation and recognize the reason that hie happened to be sunning himrself across the rocks from Syrdian. Qes was just the type to make fun of Dex at the tribe’s fire tonight. Dex’s wings sagged as hie contemplated the situation.

  “Qes!” Dex heard Syrdian sing out joyfully just before Qes landed. Whatever else they were saying, Dex couldn’t hear as they spoke quietly. “Sweet nothings” hie supposed as hie hunched down in hies misery. Dex peered again and saw them clasping one another, wrapping wings and necks around one another and, hie suspected, at least pseudo-mating. Qes must not have seen Dex. Surely they wouldn’t behave in such a fashion if they thought there might be witnesses.

  Dex’s heart leapt out of hies chest into hies neck. Could they be actually mating? Could one or both of them be carrying a child soon? If so… Dex’s ridiculous hope of mating someday with Syrdian… was truly hopeless.

  Suddenly a huge shadow flashed over! Dex panicked that a talor had come for himr. Hie slammed hies body down into the underhang at the bottom of the rock beside himr, rolling onto hies wings to face up with hies big hind claws up and free. Without conscious thought on hies part hies knives had appeared in hies hands. But there was no talor there, the shadow had flashed past Dex toward the meadow. Syrdian! Dex rolled back out in a terror, scrabbling hies feet under himr, then kicking frantically into the air, catching wind with a violent front wingstroke that launched himr over the rocks hind wings pumping.

  Horrified dread clutched Dex’s heart. An enormous talor stood over the hapless Syrdian, one enormous hindclaw pinning Syrdian’s right wing to the ground. Pinned thus, Syrdian couldn’t even turn over to fight for hies life. Qes beat wings away down the meadow fleeing the tragedy, skimming rapidly just above the meadow’s surface and into the trees.

  Wondering at hies own insanity, Dex beat higher, then tilted over to glide silently toward the back of the talor that was now lifting another hindclaw onto Syrdian’s wing and reaching forward with its enormous beak. Dex slammed into the talor’s back, sinking hindclaws into the great muscles at the base of the wings and slamming hies knives downward into the base of its neck.

  With a tremendous screech the talor rose up, turning its long neck and questing beak back toward Dex. The knives were too short! Dex had hoped to penetrate the brain at the base of the neck but too much muscle overlay it! Hie ripped the knives up and out, flaying muscle on the way, but doing far too little harm to stop the talor. A wing beat and a step forward with hies hindclaws and Dex sunk hies blades into the neck itself, twisting and ripping. The ravening beak approached from hies front-low-left and Dex leaned to the right, avoiding its snapping maw. The beak swung back around front to try from the other side. Dex beat wings again, stepping slightly higher in the talor’s shoulders and reached around, crossing knife hands in front of the neck, sinking the knives in and ripping back out again with all hies might. Blood from the neck arteries squirted over Dex’s hands. The talor coughed. The beak approached from the front-low-right and Dex leaned away again.

  But the talor rolled its entire body to the right, threatening to crush Dex underneath itself. A few swift beats lifted Dex off the talor and back-up-left. In despair hie realized that hie’d lost hies protected position behind t
he talor. Hie would be facing its beak and the crushing impacts of its wing wrists when it attacked himr again. Dex fluttered back-right away, hoping to draw the talor away from the lifeless appearing Syrdian. The talor rolled all the way over and back to its feet but to Dex’s astonishment began coughing almost continuously. It backed away from him. Blood poured down the front of the talor’s neck and evidently into the intake breathing orifice at the base of its neck, causing the now paroxysmal coughing.

  Dex turned to Syrdian who lay sprawled, unmoving, in the position that the talor had pinned himr. Three huge tears rent Syrdian’s right wing and, with dismay Dex realized hie couldn’t hear Syrdian’s breath moving. With an agonized moan Dex leaned an earhole down next to Syrdian to listen more carefully. Yes! Breath did hiss into Syrdian’s intake and out hies vent. Low volumes but, still alive! Suddenly remembering the talor, Dex brought hies head up to check its threat level—hie saw the talor quite a ways away, sagging, wings and neck drooped, its breathing labored. It didn’t appear to be a danger to anyone. Dex crouched by Syrdian to study the holes torn in those gorgeous silver yellow wings. Small wounds in wings often repaired themselves, but these were huge. They might heal a little if Syrdian lived, but hie would never fly again. Dex tugged the edges of the biggest tear together. The edges easily reapproximated, especially with the wing relaxed. But they wouldn’t stay together. Dex felt hies wings tremble. “Syrdian…” hie gasped.

  Dex picked up hies knives from where hie’ dropped them in the dirt and wiped them. The left one slipped back into its sheath. The right one caught and wouldn’t go back into its place. Dex looked down and saw that the opening in the sheath had been crumpled shut in hies fight with the talor. Hie put a claw into the sheath and pulled the opening back apart, sliding the knife in.

  Dex stared at the stitching that hie had used to form the folded piece of leather into a sheath for hies knife. The stitching that held the sheath to hies harness. The stitching that held the harness together. The fine stitching that Dex was known for, trading hies leather work for different goods from others. That’s how hie’d obtained these fine flint knives. Hies eyes drifted back to the tears in Syrdian’s wings. Could stitching repair a wing? Dex wondered. Best done now while Syrdian lay unconscious, puncturing the holes would be very painful if Syrdian were awake.

  Dex’s hand fumbled in hies pouch, pulling out the stick hie kept wrapped in fiberlin. Fiberlin useful for binding flint blades to handles and for setting snares. And for leather work.

  Dex took hies more finely pointed left knife and made a tiny puncture in Syrdian’s wing next to one of the large tears. Syrdian didn’t respond so hie made a puncture across from it and fed a bit of fine fiberlin through it with a claw, tying it just tightly enough to press the gap shut there. Hie tilted hies head and examined it. It may not last, but it seemed better than leaving the beautiful Syrdian with huge rents in those lovely wings.

  Crouching down, Dex made tiny punctures all along the edges of each of the wounds. Then came the interminable passing of fiberlin through the holes, pushing it through with the tip of a claw and then pulling the stitches just tight enough to close the hole without causing ragged overlap. When hie got to the end he went back and loosened some loops where they were too tight and further tightened others. Syrdian began to moan and move slightly. This both raised Dex’s spirits and made the suturing more difficult. At last Dex tied the last fiberlin at the end of the third hole and leaned back to examine hies work. There were small gaps at two locations. Thoughtfully Dex pulled out hies knife and made a puncture in preparation to putting a supplemental suture across the first of the two little gaps. Syrdian’s eyes flew open and hies wing ripped out of Dex’s grasp.

  Eyes wide Syrdian pushed himrself to hies feet, “What! What happened? Dex, what are you doing here?”

  “You were attacked by a talor.”

  “Get out! Why am I still here? Ow!” Syrdian said, pulling hies wing around to inspect it, “What happened to my wing? What are these little strings?” Hie reached a finger to pluck at the wound, “Ow!”

  Dex ducked hies head, “I, uh, attacked the talor and it backed off.”

  Seemingly not hearing Dex, Syrdian suddenly looked panicked, “No! Qes was here. Where is hie?! Did the talor kill Qes?” Syrdian’s wide eyes focused on Dex.

  “Qes escaped.”

  “Where is hie?” Syrdian looked frantically about.

  “Qes flew front-down-left into the trees there,” Dex said, pointing with a wingtip.

  “Qes wouldn’t leave me!” Syrdian turned to look suspiciously at Dex, “Where’s this ‘talor’ you ‘chased away?’” Hies eyes narrowed, “Did you do this to me?!”

  Dex looked around, the talor was nowhere to be seen. Hie stepped closer to Syrdian, “No! No, I would never do anything to you! I… I…” Dex couldn’t bring himrself to say, “love you.”

  Syrdian backed away in the direction Dex had indicated Qes had gone, “Stay away! Leave me alone!”

  Wings sagging in despair Dex watched Syrdian shuffle through the meadow grasses toward the woods Qes had disappeared into. Syrdian flicked hies wings once but the right one appeared to seize in place with a quiver, holding a stationary position while Syrdian’s head turned to look at it, then it slowly folded behind hies back. It must hurt pretty bad, Dex thought.

  Syrdian resumed walking but then suddenly stopped, looking front-low-right.

  Dex could see nothing. Hie rose to hies tiptoes, still seeing nothing. He beat a few strokes up into the air. Syrdian was staring at the talor, slumped into the grass, a large puddle of blood soaking into the ground around it. Dex nosed over and coasted a glide down to the talor, landing just short.

  Syrdian had taken a few steps closer and said, “There was a talor.”

  Dex dipped hies head in agreement.

  Chapter One

  Raleigh, NC—Velos’ “Concert at the End of the World,” a recording made when Velos played a concert at D5R on March 1st has, almost overnight, become the biggest music video sensation in the world. Played against a backdrop of thousands of shooting stars from the broken comet and featuring an astonishing dance by Ell Donsaii, it has attracted over one billion viewers. Velos’ leader Gordon Speight spoke of his gratitude to Donsaii for…

  President Flood turned to his Chief of Staff, “We need to give that Donsaii girl some kind of award. What’s the highest award we can give a civilian?”

  “The highest is the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She already has one.”

  “What? What did she get it for?”

  “Uh, she was instrumental in stopping the invasion of Taiwan by the PRC. The whole thing was pretty hush-hush so her award wasn’t publicized.”

  Flood’s eyes widened, “What awards hasn’t she won? I know she’s got the Medal of Honor and the Nobel!”

  The Chief of Staff raised an eyebrow. “Yeah. Well, she hasn’t gotten any little awards. Seems kind of silly to give her those after she’s won the big ones doesn’t it?”

  Flood leaned back in his chair and sighed, “What can we do? We need to recognize her somehow for what she did to stop that comet.”

  “We could give her another Medal of Freedom; this one publicly.” He shrugged, it didn’t seem like much for what she’d done…

  ***

  Professor Norris felt embarrassed as he looked out over his class on Planetary Science. “I’d like to begin class today by apologizing for my absence from this class last week. Like many of you, I became caught up in the worldwide panic over the impending impact of Comet Hearth-Daster. I, like many of you and many others in the University community, could not conceive that there would be any means available to deflect the comet. Therefore, I also concluded that the end of our world as we know it was at hand…”

  Norris found a frog in his throat and with a shaking voice said, “I hope that someday I can express my gratitude to the fine people at NASA who launched the nuclear weapons that deflected the major fragments and to the people
right here in the Triangle at D5R that deflected the smaller fragments…”

  He cleared his throat, “That said we have some course work to catch up on, so, let us begin…”

  When Norris finished his lecture and had offered make up discussions for his missed lectures—which were, of course, also available on video—he turned to find Belle Donovan standing behind him again. The pretty platinum blond girl’s grades were destroying the curve in the class this semester just like she had during the first semester. This, despite her missing many more of the classes during the run up to the comet’s expected impact, even before his own absence. He smiled, “Yes, Ms. Donovan?”

  She looked seriously at him, “I’m wondering what types of precautions we might want to take before landing on an extraterrestrial planet? You know, to prevent contamination of that planet with materials and organisms from Earth… and vice versa.”

  Taken aback by the question Norris said, “I don’t think we really need to worry about that issue Ms. Donovan. We’ve almost certainly already contaminated Mars with Earth organisms from some of the many scientific missions sent there. Probably even more so with the mission sent there recently by D5R because the transit time of that little rocket was short enough that it seems quite plausible that microorganisms on their little rocket could have survived the trip. However, aside from Mars, there seems little reason to believe that Earth organisms would have any chance of survival on the other planets in the solar system due to those planets’ inimical environments. And, anything that could survive on the other planets seems unlikely to survive on Earth.”

  “But what about planets in other solar systems? Ones that were more Earthlike than the ones in our solar system?”

  Norris snorted, “That would be a different matter wouldn’t it. But there’s no point worrying about it in any real sense. There is no way that we can reach them, they’re light years away and if you haven’t yet considered just how far away the nearest stars are, you should.”