Chapter 13 – Tracking

Mk23 -IRJ Droplet – Class 7 – Carpe Victoria (Wrecked)

Sector - Unknown

Planet - Unknown

15rth May 2341 (BSST)

It takes me a few minutes to get far enough away from the pool that I'm comfortable. I’m still on alert though. There's no need to be careless. Carelessness gets you killed.

As the time whittles away with no sign of my quarry I gradually settle, and the unease slips away behind the frustration welling up within. This damned animal keeps on escaping my grasp. Sighing, I try to calm myself. It helps and shortly with newfound enthusiasm and energy I start tracking in earnest.

In but a few moments my new approach yields results. Hoofprints. Of the good kind. Small, perhaps a young one. The deer like creatures seem to be solitary animals, the tracks don't apear in groups. Though I have yet to spot one I assume them to be deer like at least in size and temperament. Enigma can tell me it weighs about 90kg from the depth of the impressions. From scans he can tell the depth and circumference of the hoofprints. Basic equations for pressure and force when compared to prints left by me tells him that.

I could ask for a more accurate figure from him. But I don’t want to ty up his processors. Factors such as the hardness of the hoof, exact firmness of the ground and weight distribution could all be calculated or estimated. Though I’m sure it would take several cycles for him to do the number crunching.

Following the tracks leads me into a new area. No longer are there thick boughs and dense foliage. Now it's a plains biome of some kind. Long thick grasses, almost up to chest height interspersed with shorter patches hinder my progress. The grasses that are cut shorter seem damaged. They must have been chewed upon by some form of animal life. Perhaps by what I seek. Hiding in the grasses, much to my displeasure are prickly bushes. The tough bramble like cords of plant are dotted with toughened spikes. Sharper and finer than brambles they scratch the paint on the suit sending shoots of pain up my legs to my spinal cord. I flinch before the brain can send the instructions that I am not in fact in any danger.

As I press through, I manage to control the impulse more and more until I have learnt to avoid flinching. The hardest part is of course predicting when and where the malicious plants will strike me. But I manage nonetheless.

The various species of grass look awfully similar to species native to earth. There were the thin short blades of grass. They provided the lush green floor that hid under the taller plants. Festuca Pratensis was growing everywhere. That species usually had large, long blades of grass. From the stems a fine wire that split like tree branches spreads out. On the stems in place of leaves tufts of the grass grow. The existence of species like this, would – on earth at least – indicate a soft, moist soil. Rich and loamy. I hoped that this meant that there was another water source nearby. Perhaps the meadow would lead into a marsh or swampland that held more life. There I might find the animal.

In my examination of the grasses, and rushes I manage to brush up against one species. It explodes violently spraying its seeds in a wide arc as the recoil pushes the launch mechanism back. Natural tension in the fibres seem to make the head twist around in a spiral to even further distribute the seeds. Along with the seeds it sprays out a fine dust. Some sort of nutrients for the seeds prior to being ejected. Or a padding. Or perhaps even to help germinate the newly landed seeds.

Whatever it was, it caused Enigma to switch me to backup air supply instantly. The stale stench of compressed stored air fills the mask and engulfs me. The boosted oxygen is the only benefit. Though it certainly doesn’t make up for the losses. One of the few benefits and pleasurable things about this planet is the wilderness. The fresh air and unpolluted environment.

Breathing scrubbed air takes me back to the cities. In the late twenty ninth century, back before the Background space standard time was put into place the human life span, for the first time in many centuries was falling. And falling fast. Human life extension policies were only delaying the inevitable. I think the oldest human then was perhaps three and a half centuries old. Lorded as masters of space by ourselves it came as quite the shock that we were wrong. Like the roman slave that whispers in the ear of the Roman general; ‘Remember you are but a man.’ Nature had delivered us a blow. Not physically but to our egos.

Man, hardly to accept being put in our place – rightfully I would think- underwent a huge process of cleaning up our act. The filtration, treatments and recycling efforts were all stepped up dramatically. As if realising for the first time those that had denied climate change and pollution were now forced to accept it. Huge environment scrubbers were produced. Cutting edge tech at the time it cost a monumental amount to the governments and people alike.

In the end it was worth it. The cities had domed off, like separate ecologies with a scrubber cleaning the air, the water and everything else it could. To our credit, it worked. Life expectancy rose like a rocket surpassing our peak in only a couple of generations.

Though finding true wilderness, not like this mind you. But mostly untouched was very difficult. Newly colonised worlds were the only real options and they didn’t have the best medical and recovery if one were to be in trouble. Still I cherished that time with pa.

Animals like the deer thing I was following were almost completely gone on earth. Certainly, ones of this size. As overpopulation increased more and more space was taken up and the habitats and food sources died. The whole structure of the food chain collapsed in short order. Not enough producers for the consumers and then not enough for the predators. Lastly came the collapse. Mass extinctions, besides those in captivity. Earth is the realm of humans now, nature no longer has any presence.

Animals were relocated to colonised, terraformed worlds and earthly lifeforms began to exist once again. Severe sanctions and limits were placed on colonisation and settlement in an effort to preserve our precious natural history. It was working, at least up until I landed here. After that, well presumably it is still working. I hardly think it could have collapsed in what? A month. Not likely.

By now I had traversed much of the grasses and not found the water. As I marched through the grasses I began to wonder if I would ever find it. A loud splash off to my right reverberates around. Like an echo I seemed to hear it multiple times.

I set off after it. And a moment later I paused my progress and silently stalked forwards. Like a panther hiding in the grass I edged forwards. My knees bent and springy. Shifting my weight carefully and slowly. The key to stealth was smoothness. The smoother you are the more silent your actions and the less noticeable you are. Especially to animals. Humans can remember if something is different to before. Animals mostly just registered change. Seeing you move was the main error hunters made.

Approaching the edge of the grasses I notice low trees. They were large, but the branches swung low down as if scraping the ground. So, they ended up almost hiding behind the grasses. Their roots shot out over a shallow murky pool before winding down through the water into the soil underneath. Certainly, there was enough water to support them and so they were lush and healthy. Unlike a fair amount of the trees here.

Pushing my head up to the last rank of the grasses I peered through to the scene beyond. Taking a long in-depth look. The trees were as I could see before. The water had a sort of green algae layer on the top. However, the centre was free of this. Some of the edges were also free. In fact, at one such point I saw my quarry. The deer like creature I had suspected it to be was accurate enough I suppose.

The body was sleight and slim like a deer. Barely any fat covering the sinewy layers of muscle. Stockier than a deer of earth it was still quite slim. At its rump a tail similar to that of a horse flicked side to side. The hairs looked much coarser and perhaps that was a statement on this planet in itself. The tail of a horse is primarily used as a defence mechanism against biting insect and flies. That it was much thicker and sturdier for an animal slightly smaller than a horse was perhaps good evidence for how hardy the creatures here were. Powerful haunches and cloven-hoofed feet provided what I expected was a powerful agile animal. The neck was as one would expect and the head – from what I could see as the animal was drinking – was again a little sturdier than regular deer. The antlers on its head seemed much more dangerous. Not only did they end in sharp points, but they seemed to be lined with sharp razor like barbs. The edges honed to knife like consistency.

Perhaps most startling was its colouration. Deer are coloured from red to browns with only a slight reddish tint at the extremes. Some species had white spots along the flank. The belly was often lighter in colouration.

This creature though was black and green. A dark green admittedly though it was striped like a zebra. The blacks fading into the greens. Like an undulating wave, the colour seemed to ripple as I looked down the length of the animal. The head had black patches outlining the features. Almost racoon like, the eyes were surrounded by black fur with a stripe going up and over, passing between the ears.

Pondering how to approach took me a while. It was unfortunate I had overlooked the need to build a bow. I knew I had forgotten something. At least I have found a source of food. Though I may not be able to catch it right now I at least know that in the future one of these may do me well.

I fade back into the grasses and try to work my way around slightly. If I can trap the creature against the water I may be able to get at it.

It doesn’t work, who’d have thought? The deer leaps over to the opposite bank, a distance of over five metres before scampering away. I dash after it, it is using up the suit energy fairly quickly. Though the deer doesn’t get away it is faster. What allows me to keep up is human intelligence. The deer thing runs in a frantic rush. While I too am doing so I can plan out a route and navigate though the plants faster and more efficiently.

About five minutes into the chase we have passed back through the meadow and exited it. More forest land appears again, and I am forced to slow down more and more as the foliage increase in thickness. The deer too must slow down but with its camouflage it blends in perfectly and soon I have lost any trace of it. Besides the tracks of course. But judging by the distance between tracks it is still running.

Looking at the energy on my suit I realise I cannot afford to pursue the beast. I sigh, my quarry has gotten away.

“Enigma, can you light the way home please?” he does so. On my HUD a faint blue line traces between the trees, weaving around. It looks like the arrows the weather stations use to show the directions of a cold front.

As I trudge back, feeling sorry for myself I think about what to do. The shrimps in the pool could work, but I wanted to use my suit and get a proper meal.

About an hour into my journey home I spot something out the corner of my eye. It is a bright yellow and glints with a metallic sheen. Now that doesn’t belong.

“Enigma, alert!” I say, something is off.