Aliens Vs. Humans (Aliens Series Book 4) by T. Jackson King

Author:T. Jackson King [King, T. Jackson]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Wilder Publications Inc.
Published: 2015-06-09T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The Uhuru orbited above the thousands of white domes that made up the capital of the Doomat elephants. It was daylight, though it would soon be evening as the planet orbited eastward, with the setting sun of HD 1461 going low on the western horizon. Jack felt eager to give the good news of their liberation to the Doomat leaders. But the acquiescence of the herd to the corralling of their young calves left him worried. Would these Aliens even understand the concept of personal liberty? Of freedom? Of a release from domination? He looked back to Denise. The red-freckled young woman looked up from her Comlink panel. Her emerald green eyes fixed on him.

“Yes? Captain Jack, you need something?”

“I do. These Doomat resemble the elephants of Earth. But they evolved on this world of Green Grass. While they are clearly herbivores, they are also tool users.” He paused as Elaine, Blodwen, newly arrived Maureen, Nikola, Max, Cassie and Archibald focused on the two of them. “Once they were space-going people who explored this system. Then they lost the Challenge to Combat, first to the Megurk predators, then to the Rizen. What do they have in common with Earth’s elephants? And how do they differ?”

She gave him a pale-faced smile. “Oh. Just ask me for knowledge that I don’t have? Which forces me to speculate.” She tossed her head in the helmet, forcing her red braids to clear her face. “Well, I’m used to speculating.” She gestured at the world below them as it rolled by under the ship’s eastward orbital vector. “It’s clear these Doomat evolved as grazers upon the widespread grasslands of this world. They evolved further, as shown by their occupation of the cold arctic tundra vegetation on the northern continent and the semi-arid wastelands of the southern continent.” She tapped her Comlink panel, which like Jack’s had multi-function access to the ship’s Library computer. To the left of the screen there appeared an image of an African elephant. “Earth’s elephants are known tool users, as in breaking off branches to swat flies, digging waterholes and using logs to break down fences. The elephant brain is the largest of any land animal on Earth at five kilos. The brain convolutions are more complex than any other animal except for whales, and their hippocampus region gives them more emotional and spatial awareness ability than any other Earth animal. Including humans.” She paused, tapped her panel and new images appeared. “As a result, elephants have shown emotions such as grief, humor, compassion, cooperation, altruism, playfulness, and the ability to recognize themselves in a mirror. In short, elephants have an individual awareness that does not involve instinct. They also conduct funeral rites for dead elephants. And bury dead humans. Some elephants have imitated a few words of Korean speech, while they talk among themselves using infrasound. Which is fine for long distance coordination among herd members. Uh . . . ” she looked down at her panel, then back up.

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