The Hooman Saga - Book Two, Part 1

Episode 06

(This book is available everywhere online. I'm working as I can to get this posted to Wattpad. If you can't wait to see how this turns out, see https://calm.li/HoomanSagaBk2Pt1 for more information and links.)

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SUE WOKE JUST BEFORE daybreak, not used to having time defined by the sun and not the schedule.

Tig cocked his ear in her direction and opened one eye. "How are you now, how are you feeling physically?"

Sue thought carefully in response, still having some difficulty making words distinct from raw emotion. "Sore, but nothing really hurts."

"That's good, I was concerned you would have been damaged too much. That was quite drop."

Both of them shared their visions for the re-entry. Hers was within the capsule and his was looking up at a fireball heading straight for him from the sky.

"You were brave to stay so close. You could have been killed by the fire."

"Some have said foolish. But your screams, during the 're-entry' as you call it, didn't allow me to go without finding out if such a powerful Sender was still alive. We've never had a Sender show up inside a meteor before."

"Sender, is it? Is that my new name?"

"What would you like to be called?"

"My name is Sue."

"Then Soo-she you will be, as you wish."

"Why not just Sue?"

"We explain our sex by the add-on so we know who we are talking to. There is already a Soo-he in this tribe." He rippled his fur across his back and stretched on the ground, yawning as he did.

"Have I met him?"

"Only if you have been listening long-range. He's away on a hunt."

"I'm still having trouble getting used to this 'listening.'"

"Yes, the legends say your kind didn't do much of this. Except some of your poets and shamans."

"What do you know about our kind?" Sue asked.

"Except for what you've shown me, only what our Teachers have taught us." The idea that came across was those that held the legends and told them to the cubs while they were watched as their parents were hunting.

"Teachers are able to hear the legends from before our time and repeat them to us so that we cannot forget and so make the same mistakes again."

"We used books and recordings."

"And your 'historians' would rewrite those to suit their own biases and so your history was lost. They wouldn't listen, or couldn't. If they did, they would know. Once they know, they cannot forget. But your kind was weird, anyway."

"Weird?"

"They had ears but would not hear, eyes but would not see. And their words were false as their thoughts were clouded. Like your politicians and "news" reporters. They all wanted you to have faith and believe in them, rather than the world around you. But those days are long gone. You are not one of them." With that, Tig rose and stretched fully. His mane rustled and his pelt flowed over his huge frame, interrupted only by scars.

Sue got up in response. With that several others of the pack suddenly rose and pointed their noses in her direction, watching with sharp eyes.

"Peace, brothers. The hooman-she is only rising to greet the sun. She respects our customs."

Sue kept her thoughts to herself, as she certainly didn't have time to learn their customs overnight.

The rest of the pack was now up. Snarl and others sniffed the air, then started off along a faint trail at the forest's edge.

"Come, it's time to run. Do the best you can."

The pack started at once, loping off into the forest at their normal pace. Sue was quickly left behind, gasping with the effort to run that fast in her clumsy space suit, let alone jumping fallen trees, climbing around massive boulders, and over roots.

Tig waited for her, even though the pack ran ahead. He frowned. "Do you remember the ferals? Pick it up. Move."

He thought ahead to remind the pack of her speed and their location.

When Sue and Tig caught up, the rest of the pack was already rested.

Sue never complained. Tig never criticized, but kept demanding she do better.

Tig and Snarl had a short conversation. Snarl wasn't happy with the delays, but consented with a frown.

When they next started up, several hunters stayed behind them, and the pace was slower to match her top speed.

That is what probably saved both of their lives that day.

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(This book is available everywhere online. I'm working as I can to get this posted to Wattpad. If you can't wait to see how this turns out, see https://calm.li/HoomanSagaBk2Pt1 for more information and links.)