The Inosculation Syndrome Read online

  ‘So, what to do?’ The decision was taken from him as he caught a fleeting glimpse of a large cat like animal disappearing into the loose rock formation below him. All he could see was the large general shape and a purposeful flowing movement as it slipped from view.

  Kal lay motionless for some time, just to make sure that it had gone about its business and left the area. His breakfast was boring but nutritious, and he was surprised that he got so much energy from so little food, but that was just as well in the circumstances.

  He must try again to find something else to add to his larder, if only to make sure that his diet was in balance.

  The first thing he wanted to do was to reach a high point in the rocks to see if they went on forever, or if there was a return to an area of vegetation beyond them.

  The track still made its way through the rocks and was reasonably straight, with odd large stones strewn about here and there. Eventually Kal came to an area where the track did disappear; his way was blocked by an upsurge of what looked as though it had been molten magma in the past.

  Great pillows of fused rock were piled high one upon the other in all directions. There was nothing for it but to climb to the top, and see what lay beyond. He toyed with the idea of leaving his supplies at the base of the rocks, returning for them later if the way through was possible, but then realized that to do so would take a long time and much effort, so he collected up his belongings, and began the ascent.

  The climb up was not as hard as he had expected, and soon he was able to see over the top and into the next section.

  The region ahead was much the same as the one he had left, except that the high cliffs each side of the reappearing track were almost sheer, and would be impossible to climb if he should need to for any reason.

  There was nothing to do but go on, as there were surely more things to discover, and returning to the forest he had left would be of little gain to him.

  He made his way down the huge lava pile, and out onto the old track again. The cliffs around him seemed to be getting higher and were now almost vertical. He walked on for what he thought was about a kilometre when he noticed that it was getting slightly darker, and the pathway was now only half the width it had been at the start.

  Within a short distance he suddenly realized that the rock lined track was only just wide enough for him to get through, and the light had almost disappeared leaving a menacing gloom. He had never suffered from claustrophobia, but was beginning to get an idea of what it must be like.

  A flash of panic brought a rush of adrenaline to his system, and his head swam for a moment or two. Kal sat down to try and reason out if it was worth going on, or should he settle for that which he knew back in the forest, which now seemed to be almost friendly in comparison.

  He decided to go on, and try to reach whatever lay at the end of the rift in the cliffs, if his nerve held out. He must have stopped at the midpoint of the narrowing section of the gorge, as the track soon began to widen and light flooded in to dispel the closed in effect.

  An hour or two later Kal reached the end of the gorge-like valley, and saw before him a plain covered in areas of vegetation interspersed with sandy patches and the odd few rocky formations. With a sigh of relief, he trotted down the slope from the cliff gorge, and out onto the plain below.

  The first thing to do was to restock with water poles and Finger Nuts, if any could be found. He needn’t have worried, they were here in abundance, and he quickly set about collecting all that he required.

  One or two new ‘trees’ were to be found on the plain, but nothing that looked as if it would provide a meal except for the round white balls he had seen in the forest yesterday, or was it the day before?

  The white ball he had previously jammed into his bundle of water poles had long gone, so he picked up one of the smaller ones at his feet and split it open.

  The same testing technique as before was applied, a rub on the lower lip brought no stinging sensation or swelling, and a small piece of the material placed under the tongue was similarly unspectacular in its reaction.

  Did he dare try actually eating it? Kal made his way into a nearby collection of rocks so that he could hide away from anything that might take a fancy to him, and bit a piece of the white ball off, and chewed it.

  It tasted quite good, and he took another bite. The texture was a bit like soft rubber, but it crumbled down after a bit of chewing and certainly made his saliva glands work. It was then that he remembered where he had seen something similar, the Puff Ball, which seemed to turn up under different guises just about everywhere.

  Kal swallowed the pulp and finished off the rest of the Puff Ball, quite confident that it wouldn’t harm him.

  The track he had been following for so long seemed to end where the plains began, the only sign of it was at the entrance to the valley gorge.

  There was something about that track which still worried Kal, but he couldn’t think what it was. Pleased that he had now supplemented his diet with a new food, he felt keener to look for more. The criteria for so doing seemed to be choosing a drab or dull colour with an unattractive shape, as all the appealing looking fruits had proved disastrous.

  This area of the planet didn’t have as many of the attacking type plants as he had previously experienced, and Kal felt more at ease walking among the trees and bushes.

  He was a little wary of the bare sandy patches and gave a few of them a poke with his pole. Nothing happened, but he didn’t try walking on them.

  ‘No point in looking for trouble,’ he mused, ‘if there’s something life-threatening in the sand, it will show up sooner or later, hopefully at something else’s expense’.

  Being too careful would preclude him from many valuable experiences, so he was tempted when he saw a bush like plant bearing egg sized pale grey oval berries.

  They were quite firm, and removing the stones he had earlier placed inside his tunic top, he replaced them with a dozen or so of the berries. These could be tried when he next settled down for the night and was safely ensconced in a rock pile. Things were getting relatively better, and he felt quite a bounce in his step as he went along.

  As there was no path to follow or guide him, Kal just wandered about, taking in the sights and what few sounds there were.

  ‘Funny that, very little in the way of sounds’ he thought. ‘Maybe things livened up a bit at night’, but then he was usually asleep. There were very few insects, at least as he knew them. One or two little crawly things on some of the plants, and a worm-like creature that kept its head above the ground until he was a foot step away, and then disappeared.

  He dug down on one occasion just to get a better look at it, but it must have retreated to some considerable depth, as he couldn’t find it, and gave up.

  Enjoyable as this meandering around was, Kal thought he should proceed in a relatively straight line so as to experience as much diversity as possible, for that was the only way he would learn about what to do, and what not to do, when he came up against forces greater than himself. He was mainly thinking of the large animal he had caught a glimpse of this morning and any similar cousins it might have.

  The terrain he was now on undulated slightly, and apart from the rocky outcrops that dotted the landscape and the odd tree or bush which was different to those he had already found, it was much of a muchness for many kilometres.

  One place interested him though; it was a long gully which suggested that it had been formed by running water, although no water was present at the moment.

  Kal climbed down into it and dug around at the bottom just to see if a trace of water remained, but it was as dry as the ground above. He concluded that it must have been formed a long time ago, probably by a flash flood or particularly heavy rain.

  Once more, the light was failing, and Kal began looking for a place to spend the night.

  Without the rocks for protection, he didn’t think he would have lasted very long, and that was a worrying thought as it w
ould prevent him from going into any area where there was nowhere to hide. Some other means of protection would be needed to go into such places.

  The Finger Nut flakes and a Puff Ball filled him up, and after they had been washed down with a drink of water, he decided to try the grey berries.

  Removing them from his tunic, he tried to break the skin open with his fingernail, but it was too tough. The Jaw Saw did the trick. The little berry split open and exposed the pale grey flesh inside.

  He put a drop of the juice on his lip, but somehow knew that it was safe to eat. Rigorous training at the academy had instilled a degree of discipline in him that overrode even his hunches, so he went through the whole testing rigmarole anyway. If he got sick, he would be at the mercy of anything which might come along.

  The berry proved to be quite acceptable, and had a delicious sweet spicy flavour, and made a very good finish to end off the meal with.

  The rocks Kal had chosen to use for the night had a copious supply of large stones, which he was able to lift or move and so was able to construct a shelter of sorts, utilizing a shallow cave like depression in one of the larger rocks.

  He felt much better having done this, as it afforded a small degree of protection from anything large and hungry which might roam the dark hours.

  The entrance to his abode had one of his poles across it, such that if it was dislodged, it would in turn release some small stones he had piled around its end, and so awaken him, he hoped.

  The night passed uneventfully, at least as far as he was concerned. The pole was still in place along with the little pile of warning stones, and Kal got breakfast underway.

  It was while he was chewing his way through one of the Puff Balls, that he remembered the ration concentrates he still carried. They would need dissolving in water but he didn’t have a receptacle for this, and resolved to try and find something suitable.

  There may well be some fruit that had a tough outer skin which he could dry, and so make a useful drinking vessel.

  The hunt for a gourd-like object was not as easy as he had thought. Several ‘fruits’ looked promising, but all were brightly coloured, and he knew that they would contain one or more harmful substances, probably concentrated in the skin, knowing his luck.

  A new stock of Puff Balls were gathered and stored in his tunic, but of the new grey berries he found none. About midday he found what he had been looking for on a tall spindly tree.

  It was right at the top and well out of his reach even with his two poles tied together. Try as he might, the tree would not bend, and this left Kal with a degree of frustration he had not known for a while.

  He ate his midday meal while pondering the problem. He had tried the Jaw Saw, but it made no impression on the trunk, and that was when he noticed how the uncooperative plant had achieved its armoured trunk.

  The tree had exuded a form of resin from closely spaced vertical pores, and the resin had hardened in the sun or by exposure to the air. It was like glue by the way it stuck to the trunk, and try as he might, he could not even chip it off with a stone.

  And then he had a flash of inspiration. He could use his belt as a sling shot. Collecting a good supply of stones, he stood back and took aim. The first few shots were well wide of the mark, and he realized this was not going to be so easy after all.

  With patience running dangerously low, a few shots were reaching their target, and finally he hit the ‘fruit’ on the tree top squarely on.

  There was a sharp crack, and it fell to the ground. When Kal retrieved the fruit, he noticed a sticky substance on the end of the stem, and experienced the second inspirational flash of the day.

  It was the ‘glue’ the tree had used to cover its trunk with. Quickly he picked up his pole with the tooth on it, and applied the few drops of the glue like juice to the blade.

  When this had hardened, it would take a lot of punishment to dislodge the razor sharp tip from the shaft of the spear.

  Kal jammed his prize firmly between two handy rocks, and proceeded to apply the Jaw Saw to it. Fortunately, the fruit was not as hard as the trunk, as yet.

  The top quarter of the fruit came away exposing a densely packed fibrous centre, and he could not believe his luck at how easy it was to scrape the fibres out. Kal now had a cup, and a good sized one at that. He washed it out just to be sure, although the fibres from the fruit when pressed to his lip had not rung any alarm bells.

  Feeling very pleased with his days work, he took it easy, just wandering around and looking for anything new and useful, and the new grey berries.

  Considering the way the gross was cropped, something must be doing it, and a lot of something’s at that. Kal was determined to find out what was responsible, and he decided to try and keep awake for as long as possible that night.

  The trees and bushes must shed their fruiting bodies, yet there was no sign of them on the ground, so something was taking care of that too.

  How to keep awake was the problem, as he had easily fallen asleep as soon as he had eaten and the light level dropped. Perhaps that was it, don’t eat until later. He now had his cup, and could prepare his food for later consumption. It was worth a try.

  The rest of the day he spent pottering about near his chosen rock pile, looking for new growths but finding nothing of any great interest. The ‘glue’ on his spear had hardened, and there was no way the tooth was going to come out now.

  He thought one more bamboo pole may well come in useful, and set about looking for a clump.

  He would keep an eye out for another ‘jaw’ as the teeth could be used to make a few spare spears, which no doubt would be needed in the future. The big cat-like thing was still at the back of his mind, and every now and again, came to the front. He would be prepared.

  Another thing he was going to need sometime was clothing. He was used to it, and did not think he would feel right running about stark naked while trying to fend off wild animals.

  A plant that produced a fibre must be sought, the spinning and weaving was only a mechanical skill, and could be developed in time.

  He would also need some kind of footwear, as he was sure he hadn’t seen the last of those nasty little plants which had poisonous spikes just level with the ground, and who could say what lay just beneath the surface.

  The sun was sinking, and night would not be long in coming to this land, and he was going to be ready for whatever it held. He hoped he was not going to get too great a shock.

  Living in innocence was all right up to a point, but here he needed every bit of information that was available to enhance his survival status. Time to prepare the food for later and so Kal retreated to his rock house for the night and began his vigil to see what ate what in the darkness.

  The sun did its usual dip towards the skyline, the shadows grew longer and denser and Kal got ready for his night vigil.

  Like a flickering candle, the orb lit up the horizon in a multitude of beautiful colours, flickered once too often, and was gone.

  Darkness raced across the land like a black velvet cape and the stars came out to prove that the universe had not changed very much from last night.

  Kal could see outline detail of the area around him, and knew that with time his eyes would get accustomed to the lower light level, and more detail would then be visible.

  He waited for something to happen, and it didn’t. He felt tempted to tuck into his delayed evening meal, but knew that he would feel sleepy afterwards, and so waited.

  Slowly his eyes were picking out more and more detail and he thought he saw movement by one of the trees. It must have been wishful thinking on his part, for it didn’t happen again and the stillness enveloped everything like a gentle thick woolly mist.

  He must have dozed off, for he awoke with a start to the shriek of something being taken apart by something a little bigger, or equipped with larger teeth. Kal strained his eyes into the darkness, but could see nothing moving.

  Some while later one of the planets belongin
g to the same system, cast a little reflected light on the surroundings. Not much, but it did make a difference. Just below him, where the gross began at the foot of the rock pile, there was movement.

  Dozens, no hundreds of little grazers were munching away at the gross. They were everywhere. A chorus of faint chomping noises drifted up to him and he knew he was going to be in for an entertaining night.

  Suddenly there was a little muffled shriek, as though that which had made it was being drawn into a hole, to be followed by a whole series of them.

  There was a lot of scampering about, and then complete silence. After a few minutes the chomping started up again, and Kal could see the little grazers had returned to their nights work. The chomping, shrieks and silence cycle continued well into the night.

  There must have been a vast number of ‘chompers’ to sustain the losses, and an equally large number of ‘eaters’, or perhaps there were only a few ‘eaters’, and they were very hungry indeed.

  There was the occasional thud, which Kal supposed was a fruit falling to the ground, but he could not tell in this dim light. He didn’t doubt that by morning, nothing would be left of this night’s feast, and he was right.

  The rustling of tiny feet and the chomping stopped, but there was no shriek preceding the stoppage. Something new was afoot, and Kal waited with baited breath, as no doubt, did the little creatures below him.

  Faintly, but getting louder by the moment, there was the soft pad, pad, pad of feet. Whatever was making the sound was of a good weight, and the time between each ‘pad’ indicated to Kal that the creature was fairly large.

  A short yelp of pain rent the night air, followed by the crunching of bones and a smacking of lips. Then silence, except for the padding and another yelp.

  This went on for several minutes, and then the padding sound grew fainter as the creature making it moved away. Shortly afterwards the scampering and chomping hurriedly started up again, as if to make up for lost time.