Chapter 442

The Prison Planet

... It had taken Morales a good part of the morning to make the harness, but during the final stages of the assembly, Lobo had sat watching with what appeared to be suspicion. “Come here, Lobo. Let’s see if this thing fits.

“Too bad I didn’t have any buckles; they sure would have made putting the harness on a lot easier, not to mention quicker,” Morales muttered as he began strapping Lobo into the harness.

Although the big wolf had stood quietly while Morales put the harness on, it was obvious that Lobo didn’t fully understand what was happening to him. “You have helped me with the loaded cases before, Boy. But this will be a lot better than your trying to push with your front feet as we climbed those hills. And remember,” he said with a grin, “You will be eating some of the meat you will be helping to bring back here.”

When Morales led the harnessed wolf over to one of the rolling cases, Lobo seemed to figure it out. I wish I could read wolf expressions better. With all those teeth, even that grin of his is a heart-stopper.

Using a length of paracord, he secured the back of the harness to the right side of the pull handle on the case. After filling his pockets with jerky, and strapping on his weapons, he opened the door before coming back to grab the other side of the pull handle. He was tempted to call out mush, but he knew Lobo wouldn’t understand, and if he somehow did, Morales doubted the joke would be well received. Instead, “Let’s give it a try, Lobo,” he quietly said as he began pulling the empty case toward the door.

The big wolf lunged forward, jerking the case into Morales’ back. “Easy, Big Guy. It’s empty and extremely easy to pull. Save all that energy for when we come back with the case full – assuming we manage to kill something.” Then calling to the other wolf, since she had remained in the passageway staring at them, “Come on, Lila.”

Clear of the passageway, Morales went back to secure the door while Lila sniffed the harness and whined at Lobo who managed to look put upon.

Barely underway, Morales could see a distinct disadvantage – while helping pull the case, Lobo wasn’t able to range on ahead to look for danger. “Oh, well, you have the idea by now,” Morales told his partner as he unhooked the wolf from the pull rope and wound it around the case handle. “We’re going to the plains,” he reminded the wolf. “Go search for us, please. Take Lila with you and teach her what to do. If we manage to kill something, you can help pull the loaded case on the way back.”

Lobo touched his muzzle to Lila’s head for a second, and still wearing the harness, trotted away with Lila a few paces behind him, sometimes hopping on three legs, other times on all four with a slight limp.

About halfway there, the wolves flushed out something that resembled a turkey, but as usual for 2214, it seemed to be about twice the size of the wild turkeys Morales had seen on the Nature Channel. The bow was in his hand, an arrow nocked and in flight, seemingly, without conscious thought.

Lila came hopping up to smell the dead bird. Morales was ready to scold her, but she made no move to do anything other than checking it out. In less than a minute, the bird’s head was off, it was gutted and the carcass hanging on the back of the case.

After wiping the homemade arrow clean, Morales returned it to his quiver. Lila, who had, for some reason, seemed tentative about the trip at first, was now almost prancing. As soon as Morales grabbed the pull handle of the case, she turned to hurry on ahead.

Morales suspected the enormous bird would still weigh close to forty pounds, even after being gutted. He assumed that Lobo was familiar with the things, because he didn’t even come back when Morales shot the turkey, but just waited a hundred feet or so down the trail for the man to finish dressing the bird.

Hmmm. I have no idea what the date is. I know there’s a calendar on the computer somewhere, if I cared enough to look. Oh, hell. One day is the same as another here, so what difference does it make? But that turkey makes me think of Thanksgiving. One of these days we’ll pretend it’s finally Thanksgiving and cook that big boy for a turkey dinner.

Morales left the rolling case a hundred yards or so from the plains before making sure he was walking into the wind. Crouching, he very slowly worked his way through the tall weeds until he could see, while the two wolves remained right on his heels.

There seemed to be far fewer animals grazing in the mostly brown grass than the last time he had been here, but there were two small herds within sight. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be anything near this edge of the grasslands. Straight ahead, a mile or so away and down near the river, he could see a herd of dark animals that he assumed were buffalo. To his right, at about half the distance, was another small herd of something that he assumed were, elk, or at least 2214’s version of the animal. However, having had a closer view of the elk before, he knew they came armed. Their antlers were a bit smaller than the horns the buffalo carried around on their heads, but he had no doubt that what they had would get the job done. Unlike Earth elk, the females had a smaller version of the antlers, but he doubted any of them would need antlers because even the females’ lesser body mass would be easily sufficient to stomp him to a pulp. Being trampled by one of the things would get the job done just as quickly as being gored to death.

As he stared at the elk herd, he remembered how the three buffalo bulls went after the catlike creature that day. Then muttering to himself, I wonder if they have guards like the buffalo? If so, going out on that plain to stalk them would probably get me dead, but dammit, I could sure use a couple of those hides.

Speaking to Lobo, Morales quietly said, “Let’s move a bit closer. We still have most of the afternoon, so we’ll just sit and wait for a while. All the animals seem to move as they graze; maybe some of them will separate from the others and give me a shot like that young buffalo did that day.”

Back at the rolling case, he moved a quarter mile closer before leaving the case again and creeping back to the grasslands.

After sitting beside Morales for a few minutes, Lobo nudged him and whined before the two wolves moved away to quickly vanish in the tall grass at the edge of the grasslands.

A little later, Morales noticed one, then a few seconds later, two more of the male elk raise their heads and look around before seeming to stare at a point farther on down the plains. A few minutes later, the biggest animal pawed the ground and snorted loudly enough for Morales to hear it, but the animal did nothing more. Soon, they were all grazing again.

A couple of minutes later, the same thing happened again. The herd, nervous now, began moving away from where the bull was looking, but there was no actual flight, just a steady moving away as they continued to graze.

Eventually, the herd grew calm and stopped its movement, but the biggest elk raised his head to stare at a point yet again. Snorting, he again pawed the ground much as a bull would. Within a minute, now more nervous, the herd was moving without stopping to graze. They weren’t in a panic, but were ambling along with the three bulls lagging, seemingly to guard the rear.

The grin couldn’t get any bigger on Morales’ face. Way to go, Lobo, he thought, But his next thought was a sobering one, because he had to make a decision. He was reasonably safe from the herd while crouching behind one of the scrub trees near the edge of the grasslands, even if they came near, but judging from the path the beasts seemed to be taking, they would be out of effective range when they neared his position. But ... the farther out in the grasslands he went, the less chance of getting to a tree should one of the animals charge him.

He had stopped on the way to rub his clothing and exposed skin with the acrid-smelling shrub he had used before, and he had the wind advantage, but would it be enough? Grazers or not, any animal he had noticed on 2214 seemed to have excellent eyesight. What the hell. I’m not going to live forever. Wondering if he were screwing up, he crouched, then crawled to a position just behind a slight rise that he thought would be along the elks’ path.

Again, he marveled at Lobo’s intelligence, because the herd’s nervousness seemed to gradually taper off, and the animals stopped their movement a hundred yards or so from Morales’ position. After judging the distance to the animals, he looked back over his shoulder at the edge of the forest and reasonable safety. He had on boots, and was encumbered by weapons hanging on him. Can I make it if they realize where the shot came from? I’ve practiced at this distance before and can usually hit within about six inches of where I’m aiming, but what happens if the animal moves just as I fire?

He had his left arm lying across a big rock to steady the crossbow as he centered the sights on the side of a large female. The heart should be right there, he thought as he took up the slack on the trigger. I know how much the bolt drops at this distance. I know that I can hit generally where I’m aiming, but that’s one hell of a big animal. I don’t want to wound something and it die slowly and in agony.

Taking a breath, he let some of it out and recentered the sights. With an abruptness that later made him wonder, he knew the bolt would hit true, and squeezed off the shot.

The animal jerked her head up, took a couple of staggering steps and collapsed straight down. A few of the nearer animals glanced up from their grazing for a moment before returning to cropping the brown grass.

Morales put another bolt in the rail, recocked his weapon and began a hurried crawl to safety. If any of the other elk knew he had been on the plains with them, they didn’t show it.

A few minutes later, he was back at the edge of the grasslands and hidden behind his scrub tree. As he impatiently waited for the herd to move, Lobo and Lila were suddenly beside him. “Damn, you two are quiet,” he told Lobo. Putting an arm around him, “Thanks, Boy. You brought them right to me. Now all we have to do is wait for them to leave and we’ll...”

But Lobo nudged Lila, and the two of them slunk onto the grasslands to run past the closest animal and then on away before the bulls could set up a charge. When the largest bull realized that a charge wasn’t needed, he and the other two bulls followed the rest of the herd farther onto the grasslands, not stopping until they were almost to the herd of buffalo over near the river.

Long before the animals reached the buffalo, Morales had pulled the case near his kill and had the animal skinned and was cutting it up. Knowing that he would not have time to make the several trips necessary to bring the skin and all the meat to the cave, he set about moving everything to the edge of the forest. With his block and tackle, he pulled most of the meat high into a tree.

By the time he was done, it was dangerously near nightfall. With the case loaded with meat, and the heavy hide folded and lying on top, he tied the pull rope to Lobo’s harness, hoping it wouldn’t take the wolf long to learn how best to pull the laden case. If this doesn’t work, there’s no way I can pull this thing by myself.

With a glance at the setting sun, Shit, I might just violate my own rule about being out after dark, because, at best, it will be almost night before we can make it back to the cave. And ... Lobo isn’t going to be able to range ahead in search of danger. At least, it seems like it’s going to be cold tonight, so the meat should keep well – if something doesn’t help itself to it. Looking back at the bounty hanging high in the tree, If anything does get to the meat, it will damn sure have to work at it.