Traveler in the Dark

21

"This world is ancient. A wide range of organisms developed and thrived and eventually dwindled before the People came to be. Animals like you— your metabolic requirements would not have been efficient enough in the beginning. The People had advantages over almost all the others. Their casings were optimal, their metabolic needs few, except in times of swarm. And the People had tools and language and mathematics. They evolved unopposed for some time. Until the Takesh."

"Takesh?" asked Rebecca, "Were they part of the People too? Another tribe?"

"No," said Issk'ath, "They were not of the People. Takesh were akin to your birds. Closer to reptiles than your Ornithurae, though. They were large, fierce. The People were their prey. The Takesh lacked the level of intelligence of the People, however. For a millennium they did not use tools and their language was auditory only— much like yours. Yet they were cunning and cooperated with one another. For centuries they hunted the People. My makers moved underground, in great nests, to avoid the Takesh. You saw part of a nest.

For a long while, the People forgot the sky. Perhaps that is why they were never travelers like you. Their attention turned inward, creating more and more complex tools, creating vast cities beneath the stone as their technology improved. But above them, the Takesh evolved too. They began developing their own tools and mechanisms. Rudimentary, but devastating. All of their technology was bent upon capturing the People for food. In those days, there was only one great nest. Far from this place. There were many smaller colonies, but most of the People lived in the great nest. It drank from a great river that flowed beside it. The Takesh knew this and blocked the river, turning it away from the nest with great stones and earthworks and tangled thorn-trees.

For many weeks, the People assumed there was a drought above ground. They waited while the hidden pools in the nest's great chambers slowly dwindled and became thick with silt. At last, they knew they must go above and find out what had happened to the river or else move the nest. So the Queen first sent a few scouts. They returned several days later with stories of the river's altered course and what had caused it. But the Takesh had hidden, made the scouts believe they were long gone. The Queen believed this trick and sent many warriors, many scholars and diggers. The best of the People. They were meant to make a hole in the dam, to return the river to its bed and save the nest. But the Takesh were waiting. So many that their wings turned light to dark and all the sky shook with their terrible war cries. At first, they were content to swoop in and take the People. In their beaks, in their talons. But the Takesh were many and the People who had been sent to the river were not enough to satisfy their hunger. They were impatient and enraged when the last of the People had been consumed.

Those Takesh that had not yet eaten tore into the dam, scattering the stones, breaking the earthworks with their great clawed feet. And the nest flooded. The People were caught unaware and were washed away, drowning even in the deepest chambers. The Takesh feasted upon their floating corpses. The few that were left fled. In the confusion and panic, many of the People in the smaller colonies scattered, spreading across the world, rebuilding. By the time of the great swarm, there were six great nests, each larger than the first one had been.

But that was many, many mating seasons later. The loss of the first nest was disastrous. People, art, technology, knowledge, all washed away. And those remaining knew they must find a way to prevent it from happening again. The People went to war with the Takesh. At first, it was covert, quick and quiet to keep the losses minimal. Small strike teams would take out one or two Takesh at a blow. But it was slow, and the Takesh easily replaced their losses. After a time, the People developed large machines and weapons that could strike at larger groups. But they were not dependable and led to massive losses. Biological weapons were considered and developed, but the Takesh and the People were more linked than anyone realized and they were quickly abandoned. Until, at last, the People made me and all of my brethren." Issk'ath stopped for a moment and pictures of row upon row of glittering golden machines filled the feed and Liu's console.