Koban: Rise of the Kobani by Stephen W Bennett

Author:Stephen W Bennett [Bennett, Stephen W]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Literature & Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Science Fiction, Adventure, Military, Space Opera, Colonization, Genetic Engineering
Amazon: B00FLDYPDO
Publisher: Stephen W Bennett
Published: 2013-10-02T04:00:00+00:00

****

Wister was curious about the human made shuttle. He had seen non-Krall craft previously, but had never been inside one. He immediately appreciated the passenger windows, because Krall shuttles didn’t have them, and the warriors themselves apparently lacked curiosity in the view, unless they could kill something they saw.

Maggi sat with him as they circled over his home forest once, then flew west at a suborbital altitude to quickly reach the coastline, a distance of over two thousand miles. Shuttle fuel was no longer an issue, with production in full gear on Koban, so they boosted high and fast.

Wister directed them to a large bay where he said the Torki had previously lived. There were numerous openings in the sides of cliffs facing the bay, but no signs of habitation or large crab tracks. Based on current flow along the coast, Wister suggested they fly farther north, where late arriving younglings instinctively returning here would not have drifted. He pointed out crab tracks in the sand from about a hundred feet up, but said these were too small to be adult Torki.

Wister commented, “The Torkada here will be pre-adolescent younglings, with brains too enlarged to become intelligent adult Torki.” He didn’t explain how a brain “too large” could be a handicap to intelligence.

“The younglings at this stage of development are called Torkada. They look similar to the adults, yet are half their size. They never properly mature, and live shortened lives, subject to being eaten by anything that can catch and kill a crab that large. They are less intelligent that a marsh dog,” he told them.

Maggi asked him, “They don’t seem to be very nurturing to their young. Prada and humans take care of their young from birth, and start to teach them at an early age. The Torki act…, uncaring.” She almost said like the Krall, because they too didn’t care for their hatchlings, until after they survived on their own to age five or six-years-old, and were ready to begin novice training.

Wister explained what he had observed. “Their early forms are so different in shape that the adults readily eat them if encountered on the beach or in the sea. It isn’t as if they are unaware of what they are, but they also consume their own dead if the corpse is discovered fresh. They have a compulsion to not waste protein and sustenance in their makeup. However, they are rigid in the belief that to kill one of their own mature members for food is a crime, and they would starve before doing so. It is the similarity of the Torkada to the adult Torki, which places them off limits.

“They will allow them to exist, and die by natural predation, but they will not kill them themselves. Simply moving away is easier when too many of them have arrived. The Torkada are tolerated for a time living near the adults, but at some point, the adults move and leave the mindless ones behind to fend for themselves.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.