Survivors

 

 

 

 

Robert Charles was sitting out in the sun wondering what was going on in the cave. The Shkah men and Vordkan had been in there all morning talking, and he was certain it was about him.  It was past lunch and he was very hungry. He knew they were deciding what to do with him. He was pissed at himself for not slitting the little boy's throat.  What was his name? he thought. Logan? Ethan? It was one of those. He thought about running off, but he had nowhere to go. All he could do is hope things were decided in his favor.

 

He should have killed the boy, then he would have nothing to worry about. He could have done it but the scream scared him. Also, he was so hard—he wanted to own the little brat before he killed him. He was ready to cum all over him. He was so turned on that he knew he could get himself up to fucking him even after cumming over him.

 

God, I bet his little virgin ass is tight, Robert Charles thought. I was going to give him something to think about before I killed him, let him know what it was like to have a big hard dick rammed up him by the guy who had power of life and death over him. And he possessed every kind of power there was. But, before he could do anything, Douglas's asshole friends showed up and ruined everything. Once again his mind returned to the caves as he speculated as to why it was taking them so long to make a decision.

 

In the caves the Shkah were ready to make a final decision about Robert Charles.

 

"He was cutting him, there was blood on his knife and Vordkan swears he saw blood. He was a coward. He couldn't do it," Ankyol said.

 

The other Shkah men were agreeing. Vordkan asked if he could say something. They all agreed to listen.

 

"Robbachass was ready to kill him and but the little round ear screamed. Then he decided to have sex. Rape him even (that was hard to say since the Hakaanen didn't have a word for rape). After that he was going to kill him even more slowly and with more pain. He told me what he was doing. It's not his fault he was interrupted. What he was going to do was even more than kill, he was going to dominate. I think he should be allowed to go with us on our great mission."

 

"I agree," one of the Shkah said. "And one of his tasks will be to find this little round ear again and do it right. And he must kill any round ear or Hakaanen who gets in his way. And last, he must be the one to set off the explosion that will destroy our now hated enemy, the Hakaanen."

 

"You're right," Ankyol said. "And the Hakaanen, by coming here to our territory last night, have given us the excuse we needed to destroy their lives as they know them.

 

They never avenged the things we have done to them. And now they come into our territory to rescue round-eared boys who are not Hakaanen, and are certainly not Shkah.   Well, my fellow Shkah, I am angry. Let's return to our valley and see if the other part of our mission worked. If it did, Robbachass goes with us and as long as he shows his loyalty by spilling the blood of the round ears and Hakaanen he stays with us. Otherwise we will kill him. The time for action is here."

 

The men cheered and left the cave. Tonight they would head along the cliffs and hills to the Big Valley. In a couple of days they would begin to make the Big Valley a place where nobody could live.

 

Vordkan left the cave and went to Robert Charles. "Robbachass, ost lesha drey." (Robert Charles, I love you.)

 

Robert Charles looked up. Vordkan sat next to him and put his arm around him. Vordkan told him. They both smiled. Vordkan pointed towards the Big Valley. He made an explosion noise and showed things going up with his hands. They smiled again. Robert Charles nodded yes.

 

The Shkah men came out of the cave. The men and the two boys mounted their unicorns and rode back to the small valley. It was time to make their giant blow against the Hakaanen.

 

 

Bandar knew who the man coming out of the car was. Bandar told Scooter that he was Governor Rebosh, the governor of the entire Big Valley.  Scooter translated for Douglas and the rest of the boys.

 

The governor, who was obviously angry, stomped into the mayor's house without waiting for an invitation. He found the mayor in his living room and pointed to him, yelling that he wanted to speak to him in private.

 

"Anything you have to say, governor, can be said right here in front of my friends, their sons, and my round-eared friends. I have nothing to hide from them. Do you?"

 

Scooter was translating as well as he could for everybody. While he now knew the Hakaanen language fairly well, the conversation was going too fast for him. All things considered he did an accurate job. He wished he could get it all from Bandar's mind, then he wouldn't miss any words. But he would not be able to translate simultaneously. Everyone could tell the governor was furious—nobody needed a translator to figure that out.

 

"Okay," the governor ranted, "I'll say this so everybody can understand it, because I don't have anything to hide either." He looked straight at the mayor. "Just what on Hakaanen did you think you were doing? How could you send a flier into Shkah territory when I expressly forbade it? How could you anger the Shkah like that? I've been talking with their leader all day and he is extremely angry."

 

"About what?" the mayor asked.

 

"About your attack on his people."

 

"My attack!!!!!!???  Who kidnapped two children from our valley and tried to kill another child? Who attacked whom?"

 

"They were not our children, they were round ears. We should have let the Shkah have their way with them."

 

The governor had been paying no attention to Scooter’s chatter. He considered the round-eared boy to be extremely rude and was ready to tell him so.

 

"How can you say something that insensitive?" the Mayor asked angrily. "Look at who is here right now. All of these boys are friends of the round-eared boys, and all of the parents who are here are voters.

 

“The round ears have not been here long and already they have made friends, just like a Hakaanen boy would. And I think Mattoo and young Enghar are even closer than friends—they could even be Meshannas some day. 

 

“Governor, we have only known these boys a very short time and they have already entered our hearts. And even if it was for five minutes, they came to us, trusting us. We should have been protecting them like they were our own children and fought for them the same way.  My own son went with the round ears to search for the kidnapped boys. I saw four young ones leave on a dangerous mission to find their friends. The only thing I'm regretting is that I waited so long to help them. For the first time ever, I am ashamed to be Hakaanen. The round-eared young ones put us all to shame with their courage."

 

The Hakaanen boys and parents applauded, as did the human boys. It was then the Governor realized that the round ears knew what he had said.

 

 

“Would you shut that boy up!” the governor screamed, which Scooter translated with a sly smile on his face, verifying the governor’s suspicions.

 

"Dooglass, the round-eared leader, thinks we might be in danger," the Mayor told the Governor.

 

"Thanks to him and his kind," the Governor snarled. "They have angered our Shkah neighbors, and they have certainly angered me.”

 

The mayor told him about the energy field over the little valley. "Dooglass thinks the Shkah have something planned against our atmosphere making machines."

 

That made the governor even angrier. "Again, it is because of THEM!" He pointed at Douglas and Scooter who were the two closest humans.

 

"Well, I think you should put some guards around the building,” the mayor suggested. As far the mayor was concerned, the governor was acting as irrationally as a Shkah.

 

"And who are you to tell me what to do? You sent a flier into danger without my permission which angered our neighbors in the small valley. The Shkah leader promised me, though, that if we do nothing more to anger them there would be no retaliation for our raid last night. The Shkah might be different, but in the end they are Hakaanen just like us. I trust his word. If we put guards around our machinery, it will show that we don't trust their word and make them angry again."

 

"That is the craziest thing I ever heard," the mayor told him. "I don't know why the Shkah left the Proper Way, but they have. They have stolen, burned, kidnapped and now have even tried to kill.  I think they want to conquer the Big Valley. And the way to do that is to destroy our machines. You must protect them."

 

"And you are going into an area that is none of your business. I am wasting my time here. I just want you to know that I am planning on seeing you in court. That flier should never have left the ground, let own attacked the Shkah. The round ears are not our concern. They have nothing to do with peace in the valley. And while talking about them, how dare you mention round ears and Meshannas in the same breath. It is bad enough you bring war upon us with your actions, but you will not desecrate sacred Hakaanen traditions."

 

Lokor, who was Enghar’s father and Scooter’s doctor, stood up. He was a person the entire valley respected. He was considered the best doctor on the planet. Even the Shkah came to him with their worst problems. He usually managed to stay out of the politics of the Big Valley, but when he saw something he thought was wrong, he didn’t hesitate to point it out.  

 

"Governor Rebosh, if you look over on the couch you will see my son and Mattoo, one of those round-eared boys, cuddled together. My son heard every word you said. My son loves his Mattoo, who loves his Enghar.  Don't you ever tell me those young ones are not our concern. It does not matter where Mattoo comes from or what shape his ears are. He has become like a son to me. And if Enghar should ever choose the round-eared boy as his Meshanna, I would be the first to stand behind him. It would not desecrate Hakaanen tradition, it would celebrate it and make it even stronger.  I hear the mayor of this village plans to run against you in two months." He looked at Bandar's father. "I'll tell you right now, he has my vote." There was more cheering and the governor, who was absolutely livid, stomped out of the house.

 

"We need to go to those machines in the morning," Brandon told Douglas. "I want to see how they work."

 

"And we need to see if we can protect them," Alex added.

 

Scooter told the mayor what Brandon, Alex, and Douglas had talked about. Mayor Andorn said that first thing in the morning he would take them there.  Douglas hoped that wouldn't be too late.

 

 

 

Robert Charles and the Shkah spent the day packing up for a trip along the hills with the Shkah men. They would follow the hills to a trail that wound down into the Big Valley close to where their target was. The Shkah leader, Arkron, told the other Shkah about his chat with the Hakaanen governor. They all laughed over the things Governor Rebosh had said. The Hakaanen were so trusting they would be easy to defeat. In the last 300 years the Hakaanen had not had wars and so little crime, they only had a couple of policemen and jail cells. The fact that the lives of the Hakaanen were go boring and unexciting was one of many reasons the Shkah rebelled against them.

 

In the entire history of Inferno there had only been one murder, and that involved two of the Shkah. Although the Shkah were an ancient race, they had assimilated with the Hakaanen over the last couple of centuries, trading peace, security, and a prosperous way of life for their independence.

 

But somehow being on Inferno and being cut off from Hakaan had made some of them see things differently than other Hakaanen. It had made them see the Hakaanen as weak and themselves as strong and powerful and they began to believe that it was the strong and powerful who should rule the hostile world they had colonized.

 

Robert Charles didn't understand all of the dynamics, but he could tell that it was with the Shkah that the power lay. He knew if he could only understand the language and learn more about them, he could not only help them more but he could solidify his own power.

 

After the bags were packed Robert Charles and Vordkan settled down for the evening in Vordkan’s room. Vordkan stripped off what little he had been wearing and Robert Charles followed suit. Looking at Vordkan’s rapidly hardening cock, Robert Charles had no doubt that the Shkah teen was interested in having sex. While he had hoped they might go looking for Mishka, the young girl he’d had sex with before, trading blow jobs with Vordkan was a good enough substitute. The fourteen-year-old lay back on his cot, his legs spread, his hard cock leaking and begging to be sucked.

 

Vordkan surprised him, however, by using his fingers to make the universal sign for fucking. RC frowned and shook his head, but Vordkan grinned and nodded yes. While Robert Charles had fucked numerous boys, he had never taken a cock up his ass, and he certainly had no plans to give up his virginity to an alien. Fucking Vordkan would probably be an okay substitute for not having a girl or for getting his cock sucked. Robert Charles liked the sensations of oral sex more than he did those of anal sex.

 

He breathed a sigh of relief when Vordkan pointed to his own ass. Since he was willing to top the Shkah teen, he nodded yes. Vordkan grinned and pulled a jar of lubrication of out his dresser drawer. While the Shkah proclaimed to have made sex between males taboo, in practice that wasn’t the case—especially sex between men and teenage boys. Vordkan had been seduced by his share of men. Sex between boys was practiced even though it was forbidden. The Shkah men looked the other way as long as the sexual acts were kept reasonably private.

 

The taboo on sex between males was one way in which the Shkah said they were different than the Hakaanen who encouraged boys to be sexually active with each other. It was one way the Shkah saw themselves as different from their Hakaanen brothers, even if their perception of reality was not the same as what they practiced.

 

Robert Charles lubed himself as well as Vordkan’s muscular teen ass. Without foreplay or preliminaries he pushed himself into the anus of the Shkah teen. The Hakaanen boys loved the foreplay as much as they loved the sex, but the Shkah men and boys avoided it since in theory what they were doing was forbidden and should be consummated as quickly as possible.

 

Vordkan had been impressed by RC’s six plus inches since the first time he’d seen the Earth boy hard. It was even more striking as it filled his ass like no one else had. Robert Charles went right to work, enjoying the lack of foreplay. Foreplay was for fucking a girl, not for fucking a guy—fucking a guy was just a way of getting off. Robert Charles gave Vordkan everything he could and after over fifteen minutes of sweaty, steamy sex, he filled the older teen’s ass and sent him to his own orgasm as he blew his load over the sheets on his bed. Satisfied, the two boys separated, cleaned their bodies of sweat and juices, and got dressed. Robert Charles returned to his cot.

 

The two of them had become the second Earth-Hakaanen (for all intents and purposes the Shkah were Hakaanen) sexual pairing following Matthew and Enghar. Not knowing what had occurred between those two boys, Robert Charles wondered if he had been the first.

 

Vordkan signaled Robert Charles to stay and he took off. Robert Charles waited by pulling down his loin cloth, sitting on the ground and playing with his still hard cock, thinking of them and Mishka. As he often did, Robert Charles wondered Am I gay? Is Vordkan gay? He didn’t muse long over the questions as his body began to react to his stroking and another load of semen powered its way in spurts to the ground. Robert Charles thought if being gay meant having a couple of orgasms, one of which was in Vordkan’s ass, in a very short time, then it couldn’t be a bad thing at all.

Vordkan returned about fifteen minutes later with two things.  One was a large bottle of reddish liquid. The other was a boy who looked to be around eleven or twelve.  He had a very light golden mane. Robert Charles had noticed that the younger Shkah boys didn't color their manes. The boys with colored manes looked like they were all in their teens. He also noticed that no girls had colored manes.

 

Vordkan said something to the boy and then turned to face Robert Charles. “This is Orzano,” is what Robert Charles heard while, "Es Bona Orzano,” is what Vordkan actually said.

 

"What did you say?" Robert Charles asked. Vordkan looked at him strangely. Then Robert Charles thought, ‘What did you say?’

 

Vordkan gave RC a look of total surprise.  The boys looked at each other and smiled—somehow Robert Charles understood what Vordkan had just said. What they didn't know right away, but soon figured out, was that Orzano was the relay between their minds.

 

This was close to the Douglas-Scooter-Bandar mind relay, which Robert Charles and Vordkan were not aware of. Instead of an Earth boy being the relay, like Scooter was, this time a Shkah boy was the relay. As soon as Robert Charles realized what was going on, he saw this as an opportunity to increase his power because now he could communicate.

 

Vordkan opened the bottle he had brought and took a swallow. He coughed a little, then passed the bottle to Orzano, who took a smaller swallow. He took a deep breath and coughed even more than Vordkan. He passed it to Robert Charles who took a swallow and spit it all out. It felt like he’d filled his mouth with fire.

 

 But he wasn't about to let the two Shkah boys do something he couldn't do. He immediately took another swallow.  This time he got it down, but with an even harder cough than the two Shkah boys. His belly felt incredibly warm inside and the feeling quickly shot up to his head. Damn, this is powerful stuff, he thought. That little alcoholic Jordan would kill to drink this.

 

As they drank, Vordkan told Robert Charles what the plan was. Robert Charles smiled at its beauty. He now knew why the Shkah blew up the "Moonduster". They were testing the explosives they had stolen from the Hakaanen. He also learned that the business with Ryan and the twin was a test, which he almost flunked because he hadn’t finished what he had started.

 

He told Vordkan he was going to finish his task, but he just wanted to take care of sexual business first since sex was power.  Vordkan flashed RC an evil grin and took a big swallow of alcohol, followed by Orzano, and then by Robert Charles.

 

 Robert Charles admired Orzano's smooth skin, his hairless groin, his slender, hairless legs, fine mane, and his sweet face. Robert Charles wanted to take Orzano sexually and the young Shkah could sense it.  Orzano finally told Vordkan and Robert Charles to stop trading their thoughts, because it was giving him a huge headache.

 

The three boys were getting very drunk. Robert Charles hunkered close to Orzano and started playing with the young boy’s hairless cock, getting it hard. They kept drinking and kept getting drunker. He grabbed Orzano and pointed to his hard boner indicating he wanted to have it sucked. Orzano looked to Vordkan for guidance but, before Vordkan could say anything, Orzano passed out.

 

The two teens staggered out of the shed, carrying Orzano between them. The bottle of booze was empty. They could barely walk, let alone half-drag Orzano. Vordkan was older and had drunk this Pahkah before with other teens as well as with Shkah men, who expected a teen to drink until he dropped.

 

Robert Charles was fourteen, and while he had been drunk before, the Pahkah was stronger than anything he had ever tried. Orzano had been given a couple of tastes by his father, but this was his first time ever being drunk and he was really just a small boy. Even though the two older boys could barely stand up, they had to drag the younger boy home he was so drunk. Orzano was naked because the teens had forgotten to put his kilt on him. Half way to his house Orzano started vomiting. Robert Charles and Vordkan dropped Orzano on the porch of his cabin and weaved to their way to Vordkan's cabin, where they passed out on Vordkan's bed. Robert Charles’s last thought was, tomorrow I'm going to war.

 

 

The evening was different in the village of Awanstor. The mayor decided that the boys could stay together in the town hall. There was a meeting room where they could sleep. With the help of village citizens enough beds and cots were found for them, along with bedding.  The meeting room had a small kitchen. There was a roomy bathroom with three sinks as well as a small shower connected to the mayor’s office. Some of the Hakaanen parents volunteered to help stand watch over the city hall during the night.

 

Only two boys didn't stay at the town hall. Matthew returned to Enghar’s house to continue therapy on his leg. He told Douglas he was willing to stay so they would all be together. Douglas replied that after he got out of his cast and could walk normally he could stay with the group. He gave Matthew one of the radios so he could stay in touch with the group.

 

Before he left, Matthew went with Mike into a small library connected to the meeting room.  He did something he had wanted since the moment he saw Mike again. Just like he thought it would, the sperm of his big "brother" tasted strong but excellent. He kissed Mike to share the taste, something he learned from Enghar. But Mike had squirted a great deal more than his Hakaanen friend and lover did. Mike returned the favor and the two separated happily. Matthew now felt fully connected to the group thanks to his big “brother”.

 

The other boy who would not be staying with the group was Warren. He was going back to the hospital for a couple more days. Doctor Lokor had been using drugs that worked on Hakaanen children. He gave them to Warren in small doses, but the Hakaanen and the "hoomanns" seemed a lot alike physiologically. The doctor could see that Warren was breathing better. Once he found the right dose he felt Warren should be able to rejoin his friends.

 

That night the boys stayed up late, even though they knew they would have to get up early to go on their trip. They were pubescent boys, after all. The tension of the past few days had made sex seem unimportant, but on this night their innate horniness took control. They knew enough about Hakaanen culture to understand the parents watching over them would not disapprove of what they wanted to do.

 

Douglas made love to Scooter. They blocked out the rest of the boys in the room until the only things they were aware of were each other's bodies and minds. They stayed lost in their own little world until they enjoyed mutual orgasms that left them shaking and dizzy. They fell asleep happily in each other's arms.

 

Travis was so happy his Ryan was back he couldn’t wait for them to enjoy each other. They didn't care who was in the room either as they dry humped in the middle of the floor. The boys in the room were their family. They had nothing to hide from them, especially their happiness and love.

 

Alex and Mike were happy to have each other again at last. They too made love as Mike had his second orgasm of the evening, this one coming deep inside the bowels of Alex.

 

For Brandon and Stevie it was a quick sixty-nine that brought them off and they quickly fell asleep.

 

Jeremy and Jordan were without partners and wandered over to each other. They were horny and jerked each other off. It was nothing more than two horny boys getting each other off. Jordan knew Jeremy didn't care anything for him. He knew that they were jerking each other off because it was better than doing it alone.

 

Ethan and Logan knew what was going on around them. Ethan tried to touch Logan's cocklet, but Logan pushed him away. All Logan could think about was the knife at his throat and Robert Charles humping his big, ugly penis over his body. He turned away from Logan fighting off tears.

 

Matthew and Enghar went right to Enghar's bed when they got to his house and hugged each other. Enghar had been so afraid of losing his Mattoo to his round-eared friends and was ecstatic at having his round-eared boyfriend back in his bed. Matthew was so happy to be with the boy he loved that he couldn’t let go of him. He never wanted Enghar to be out of his sight. Matthew stroked Enghar's soft mane, his hard cock, his firm ass, and the boys made love that was as beautiful as anybody's. 

 

Around three o'clock a scream woke everybody in the room in the city hall.  Ryan knew right away where the scream had come from. It was Logan. He quickly got up, found the light switch and turned the lights on.

 

Ethan was hugging his twin brother and sobbing as Logan kept screaming. Ryan took the little boy in his arms. He stroked his hair and whispered calming words to him. Logan started to calm down. The parent who was watching over them entered the meeting room. Scooter told him everything was okay, that the boy was having a nightmare. Douglas turned out the light as Ryan and Ethan held Logan between them until he fell into a restless sleep.

 

 

When morning arrived the Shkah set off on their mission. They were taking the long way to get down into the Big Valley and it would take them all day to get to their destination. Their saddle bags were loaded with food, drink, weapons, and the explosives. Vordkan and Robert Charles were sporting huge hangovers.

 

They had told Arkron, the Shkah leader, about Orzano and the way they could communicate through his mind.  He decided to bring Orzano with them so they could communicate with Robert Charles. Orzano was sick as well, but was placed on a unicorn anyway. The Shkah had to stop twice to allow him to puke. They knew that having him along would be a big plus and were willing to put up with his first hangover—in fact they found it amusing.

 

Arkron knew what had happened the night before, especially after Vordkan's father told about the missing bottle of Pahkah and Orzano's father told about finding his son passed out on the porch in the morning. Arkron laughed and said they would soon learn to handle Pahkah like men. He too had been twelve the first time he had sampled the strong spirit. The Shkah men laughed as well and talked about their drinking and sexual adventures as boys.

 

Robert Charles almost fell off his unicorn once. He shook his head and drank some water to help ease an insatiable thirst.  He kept looking at Orzano and wondered why he thought the Shkah boy was so sexy. A girl should be in his mind right now, not Orzano. He found himself wishing Orzano had been able to give him the blow job the night before. Then he thought about the mission they were on and realized he could hardly wait for them to reach their target.

 

 

The Earth boys were also up early. The boys asked Logan if he felt okay and he kept saying he was fine. A couple of mothers arrived and cooked up a breakfast. Douglas thought it was strange to see mothers, since they were usually in the background, as were girls. He wasn’t sure how the Hakaanen families worked. Mostly he saw fathers with sons and mothers with daughters. From what he was told the mothers cooking breakfast were probably partners and the mothers of one or two of the boys they had stayed with earlier.

 

After breakfast a wagon pulled by two unicorns arrived. The boys scrambled into the back. The driver was the father of Prekan, the boy Ryan and Travis had stayed with. Prekan, Bandar, and Bandar's father, the mayor, were also in the packed wagon. They left for the village where the atmosphere producing machines were located.  The machines were at the south end of the valley and it would take them until afternoon to get there.

 

They stopped a couple of times to drink, stretch, and pee. One time they had a peeing contest to see who could pee the farthest. They were all amazed when Jeremy won it. Douglas would have bet on Bandar. While their trip was serious, it didn’t stop them from being boys to relieve the boredom of the long journey.

 

It was close to one when the wagon arrived at the building where the machines were housed. Some Hakaanen women met them and served lunch. The boys then got a tour of the great atmosphere machines. Enghar, Warren, and Matthew showed up just as the group finished lunch.

 

Brandon quickly grasped how the machines functioned. When his mother invented her new system for speeding up the creation of new atmosphere and terraforming entire planets, she told Brandon about her new machinery and how it worked. What she didn't tell Brandon asked about.

 

 Brandon was an intelligent boy who loved science and had a great memory. It didn't take him long to realize he knew as much or more about terraforming as the Chief Environmental Engineer of the Hakaanen. He got into a conversation with the environmentalist. Scooter tried to translate what they were saying, but he couldn't keep up. Sometimes Brandon and the Engineer had to point and draw to get their ideas across. The Engineer was amazed at how much Brandon knew. In fact Brandon saw that he could help improve the way the machines worked and he was telling the Engineer as much. Even though Brandon was just a boy the Engineer listened to him, because the Hakaanen respected their children and their ideas. He genuinely liked some of Brandon's.

 

The boys went below into caves that were underneath the building and went into a cliff that was on the west side of the building.  The caves were like the caves Brandon saw on Mars. Ryan and Mike both remembered the attack on Ryan in those caves. That seemed like years ago now.

 

When the tour was over they went out a back door. The guide pointed to where the energy field would start from in the cliffs if they ever needed to use it. It was powerful enough to spread out and cover all of the big valley. One of the machines they saw in the building controlled the energy field.

 

Douglas and Mike noticed how close the building was to the cliffs. They wondered if there was a path down those cliffs. Scooter asked their guide, who pointed to a narrow trail that wound down from the bluff far above the village. It was so steep and narrow unicorns couldn't negotiate it. People on foot could go down it, albeit slowly.

 

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Douglas asked Mike and Alex.

 

"If you mean you're thinking of the Shkah coming down the hill to attack the machinery, then I'm thinking what you're thinking," Mike said.

 

Douglas sent Alex into the building to get the mayor and the Chief Engineer. When they came outside Douglas told them what they were thinking. The mayor surveyed the cliff and saw what Douglas was talking about. 

 

The Chief Engineer said he didn't think Douglas was thinking correctly. It was one thing for him to respect what Brandon knew about terraforming, but when it came to respecting what the boys knew about fighting, all he could think of was that since the Hakaanen didn't fight why should they worry about ways of attacking? But when Douglas kept insisting that he post guards, the Engineer said he’d consider it, but he’d have to call the governor first.

 

When he didn't move Douglas stared passively at him. Finally, Douglas asked if he was going to call.  The mayor then asked the same question. Finally the Engineer went back into the building and the mayor followed him. The boys waited to see what they would do.

 

"How are you feeling, brother?" Douglas asked Warren. He hadn't had much chance to talk to him.

 

"Much better," Warren said. "Whatever that doctor is using, they should have it on Earth, because it’s working great. Either it works or I’ll have to go live in the desert."

 

Douglas hugged him. "I'm glad you're better. We all were getting worried about you."

 

They all were talking some more when the mayor and the Chief engineer came back out.

 

"The governor said that I had nothing to worry about," the Chief Engineer told the boys. "Everything has been taken care of."

 

Douglas was pretty sure he knew what that meant. "Does that mean he's posting guards?"  Douglas asked the mayor, even though he knew what the answer would be.

 

"It means what the governor told us yesterday. He will do nothing that he thinks will anger the Shkah."

 

"But how will the Shkah even know there are guards unless they come to the building?" Douglas asked. "And if they come to the building, it sure won't be because they want a tour of the place.  This is so stupid." Douglas had lost his patience with the Hakaanen governor. Why couldn't he see the danger here?

 

"What if we stay and guard it?" Alex asked.

 

"I think the governor is getting to know you boys too well," the mayor replied. "If you stay then he will send someone.....to lock you away."

 

Douglas totally lost his temper—he was furious. "Is he one of the Shkah or what? He seems to be completely on their side!"

 

"No," the mayor said calmly, trying to calm Douglas down. "The governor is a good man. I don't agree with him at all on this matter, but he really does think what he is doing is best for the Big Valley.  The Hakaanen haven't fought among themselves for so long it is hard for the governor to think in terms of a conflict. He still thinks of the Shkah as being regular Hakaanen men who are a little misguided. He can't accept that they are completely different from us in how they think."

 

The mayor gave the boys a quick history lesson. A thousand years ago the Hakaanen had been much different. They were more like the Shkah.  There were two different continents on Hakaan, each having their own government. The two governments were rivals and were constantly at war with each other. Both sides were close to sending men into space. Each government was afraid that if the other one sent men into space first, it would keep them from sending their own ships into space. Their rival would then be free to orbit weapons aimed at the other continent. They didn't trust each other at all. So they went to war to keep the other continent from leaving the planet. That wasn't the only reason for the war, but it was the major excuse used for starting it.

 

The war was terrible. It had lasted one hundred years and by the time it was over most of the cities and technology of the Hakaanen had been destroyed. The planet's way of life was in some ways the same as what they were living on Inferno.

 

 During this time, the peaceful followers of the God Jeswa came to power. Most of the more violent Hakaanen had been killed off fighting one hundred years worth of war. The Jeswans slowly brought peace to the planet. They ended up building a new way of life on Hakaan as well as reviving the shattered technology and infrastructure.

 

It took seven hundred years before the Hakaanen attempted to conquer space again. This time they went as peaceful explorers. While problems arose they were solved peacefully. For eight hundred years the life on Hakaan had been nonviolent and prosperous. While there were still some followers of the Shkah way, they were a tiny minority with virtually no influence.

 

Now, of course, nobody knew what was going on there. For all they knew the virus that stopped the Hakaanen from leaving their home world had wiped out the population of the entire planet. One of the last ships bringing colonists carried a number of the followers of the Shkah way who were hoping to revive the Shkah way of life in a new environment. But it wasn't until after Inferno was cut off from Hakaanen that they started creating problems and were finally settled in the small valley.

 

"The governor is forgetting our past," the mayor said. "He forgets that the war-like blood of the Shkah goes back many generations. And that they have remained peaceful for all these years because there were so few of them.

 

However, on Inferno they were a larger and more active minority. Many of them remembered the old warriors of the past. They think that their way of life is the way a true Hakaanen should live. The governor forgets that it took a lot of work and constant diligence to make the peaceful society we have today."

 

Douglas asked the mayor again if he and the Earth boys could stay in the environmental building overnight and keep guard. The mayor told him it would be best if they didn't. He explained that there were always workers in the building and they would monitor the trail every hour to see if anybody was coming down the cliff. He thought it would take about an hour to negotiate the trail in daylight, and doing so would be too dangerous at night. The mayor told them that it was unlikely that anybody would try to come down the steep trail until dawn.

 

Douglas, Alex, Mike, and Scooter looked at the path that wound its way down the cliff; they weren't so sure about the mayor’s prediction.

 

 

The sun was setting when the Shkah got to the end of the Big Valley. Even riding unicorns, the trip had been an arduous one. Robert Charles looked down into the Big Valley. The path down looked steep and dangerous, but Robert Charles was confident they could manage to make their way into the valley.

 

Vordkan sent his thoughts to Robert Charles through Orzano, letting him know what the Shkah men were saying. "If we start now we can make our way down while it starts getting dark. It will be light enough for us to see adequately, but we will be in the shadows, and if we're careful we won't be seen by the Hakaanen," Arkron said.

 

It sounded like a good plan to Robert Charles. After getting to the valley floor, they would hide out until it was dark and then place the explosives around the building. Somebody would set the timer and they would hide out in the woods waiting for the explosion. After the atmosphere generator was destroyed they would then create more trouble in the valley.

 

They decided that they would walk their unicorns down the steep and narrow path. Since it would be getting dark, taking the unicorns with them would be a big risk.  But, if they were going to succeed they needed to take some risks, and taking the unicorns would be their biggest one.

 

Down in the valley one of the workers looked out at the trail going down the cliff. It was in the shadows, but he looked as carefully as he could. He saw nothing on it and went back inside.

 

The Shkah rode their unicorns to the head of the trail and dismounted.  They took the bridles and started to lead them down the trail. Orzano and Robert Charles were having the most trouble leading their unicorns. The men were used to negotiating the cliffs in the north valley, and while they were gentler than this one in the south valley, they still posed their own hazards. Vordkan had been riding unicorns with the men since he was a preteen like Orzano.  Orzano and Robert Charles simply didn’t have the experience that the rest of the Shkah had.

 

They went slowly down the trail, hugging the cliff. They were often hidden from view by outcroppings of rock. The unicorns followed them calmly. They were used to riding in the hills, much more than the Hakaanen's unicorns were. The mayor never thought that unicorns could make it down the steep trail. But in little over an hour, when it was almost totally dark, the Shkah had made it successfully into the valley.

 

Ten minutes after the Shkah reached the valley, a worker took a quick look at the trail. It was dark and there was nothing to see.  He went back in. The workers agreed that nobody would be coming down the cliff now and that they should concentrate on their work and forget the trail for the night.

 

 

The boys finished the dinner that had been prepared for them in advance. Their dinner packets were heated up on a table and they ate picnic style. Douglas knew that the Hakaanen couldn't serve them like this forever and a permanent solution to their dilemma would have to be found. But for now, he wanted them all together.  After the attack and the kidnapping by the Shkah it was too dangerous to put them all in different houses. Douglas called a meeting of the boys.

 

"I think we should go to the terraforming building. I just have a bad feeling about this whole thing. I need some volunteers." Everybody volunteered, including Logan, Ethan, Matthew, and Warren.

 

He finally decided to let everybody but Matthew, Logan, and Ethan come. Matthew understood why he wasn’t picked, but the twins were disappointed. They would stay behind with Prekan while Bandar and Enghar would go with the rest of the Earth boys.

 

"Where is Jordan?" Stevie asked.

 

Nobody knew. They had seen him at dinner, but he disappeared after they finished eating. They thought he had gone to the bathroom because he had walked in that direction. But now they remembered that he never returned.

 

"Well, we can't worry about him now. Let's go," Douglas said.

 

Two of the Shkah men set the explosives around the building. Robert Charles was with one of them and Vordkan with the other. Because he couldn’t communicate with the men, Robert Charles had been given his instructions in advance.

 

Jordan walked towards the huge terraforming building, wondering if Robert Charles had come down the cliff and if he would be able to find him.

 

Ten boys were walking to the same building, wondering what they were going to find, but planning to stay there all night. As Douglas saw it,  the governor hadn't done a thing for them, so why should they listen to him? Douglas felt he was doing the best thing for the Hakaanen by disobeying the governor’s orders. He knew if he was wrong, then he and his group would be in serious trouble. But he didn't care, because if he was right and didn't act on his instincts, then the Hakaanen and his group would be in major trouble.

 

Next: War

 

Comments are welcomed.  E-mail me, Douglas DD  at TheHakaanen@Hotmail.com