For the Kudu, their Age of Awakening
starts well before the Golemites. In fact it started during
humanity's first steps into the galaxy with the discovery of an Earth
like planet approximately four hundred light years from the Sol
system along the Orion Spur of the galaxy.
The system, identified as PSM-485-34c,
was the thirty fourth system surveyed by jump probe 485 thirty four
years after the BG Drive was invented. A science vessel was
dispatched to cluster PSM-485 forty seven years after its charting.
From that ship a small research and survey team was deployed to
examine the planet for colonization.
What the team discovered was a planet
rich in both flora and fauna. With an atmosphere that closely
matched Earths. Further study and research showed no serious threats
to colonization and so the planet was given the green light for
initial colonization.
It was not long before three SEED ships
moved into orbit of the planet. The ships carried materials,
machines, habitats, and various flora and fauna for colonization.
What was not planned was that one animal would be the catalyst for
the quarantine of the world. That species was the unassuming
Squirrel (specifically the California Ground Squirrel).
The crews of the SEED ships went to
work, deploying drop ships and depositing parts, machinery, plants,
and animals in a large valley. Over the next three solar cycles the
new settlement slowly grew. Waste processing, habitats, factories,
and mines were all built. Shortly before the SEED ships left,
Pioneer colonists started to arrive beginning the work of getting
everything running.
All looked good for many years except
that the scientists left to monitor the effects of human colonization
on the biosphere started to see some odd results. From their
censuses, the Squirrel population was remaining constant instead of
growing. But more worrying was that the Kudoe population (their name
for the indigenous squirrel like species) was declining.
The reason for this, as the scientists
discovered, was that the Kudoe preferred to mate with the Squirrels
instead of themselves. The cause was traced to a specific pheromone
the Squirrels released that caused the Kudoe to enter a euphoric
state. More surprising was that the Kudoe could be impregnated by
the Squirrels.
Many of the offspring were stillborn or
had terrible mutations and died in hours of birth. But one in every
fifty was viable, this new species would be named the Kudu
(pronounced Koo - Doo) by the scientists. The Kudu were different,
they averaged double the size of Squirrels when mature. They had
denser muscles, were faster, their snouts were shorter, and their
cranial cavities were larger with the frontal cortex being almost
double the size.
If this was not odd enough, the Kudu
started to gather into groups and would breed at almost any time of
the year. Their populations started to boom as the Kudoe were now
dying out in the valley. With each successive generation of Kudu,
their evolution continued. Fifty years after the first colonists
arrived, the Kudu were three feet tall when standing on their hind
legs. They were changing far faster than anyone could have dreamt
and it had a growing number of scientists worried.
On a cool day leading into fall on the
planet now called New Stockholm, an incident came to pass that would
change the course of the planet's future. On weekends the many
children of the settlement would often migrate from the more
populated areas to the fields and grasslands of the rural
surroundings. One day two groups did not return to their homes for
lunch.
What follows is an accounting of events
from one of the security staff:
“The office was quiet till about
noon, frantic parents were calling the security office reporting that
their children could not be found. Officers were immediately tasked
to look through recent camera data and to find the kids and track
their movements. The last camera to see the large group of children
was on the west side of town as they entered the forested area at the
edge of the agricultural zone.
Shortly after the we knew where the
children were last seen, Commander Hargrove organized a search
composed of parents, Security officers, and members of the science
station including Dr. Sandesky, head of the science center.
Within forty minutes the teams were
organized and moving into the western forest. The brush was thick
and hard to traverse especially for the civilians. Surprisingly the
scientists were at home in it and moved with ease.
After two hours of searching, my group
entered a clearing. To the center of the clearing was something no
one expected to see. Sitting in a half circle in front of a large
tree were the children. A silver-gray Kudu was moving inside the
half circle letting the kids pet it. The Kudu would chitter with
each one and the kids would laugh when it did.
Around the children was a crude pen
made of woven vines and sticks. Outside were a number of younger
Kudu standing about four feet to four foot six inches tall, each
holding crude spears. It was with the outer Kudu guards that one of
the parents panicked and tried to run to her child. The Kudu reacted
by raising their spears as security grabbed the parent and pulled her
back behind them while others raised their weapons.
The situation was tense with security
ready to fire and Kudu ready to attack. Before it could get there
though, from the edge of the clearing a voice boomed from the woods
“STAND DOWN!!”. The security team's weapons wavered as heads
turned to see Dr. Sandesky moving out of the shadow of the forest.
As the doctor closed he repeated “Stand
down and put those weapons on the ground!!” The team of security
officers did as he ordered, slowly lowering their rifles and placing
them on the ground. When Dr. Sandesky got to the group one of the
officers asked “Sir, why?” all the doctor did was point to the
forest canopy.
Behind us in the canopy of the trees
were dozens of dark shapes moving around in the shadows. Spears and
crude bows could be seen in their hands. The gray Kudu watched all
of this, raising his staff, the Kudu waived it and the shadows faded
into the green once again.
Once the situation was diffused, the
doctor started to walk to the gray Kudu, the guards still pointing
spears at him, he pulled out a small pouch and took something out of
it. We later learned that it was a bag of raw Walnuts, holding one
in hand he stopped just before the gate and held out the Walnut.
The elder Kudu motioned to the kids to
follow and they did, he then moved to the gate of the enclosure and
as he reached it, chittered something. The guard Kudu lowered their
weapons and moved away from the enclosure eventually fading into the
forest. The Elder, with only two guards remaining, approached Dr.
Sandesky. Reaching out with his paw, or may be hand, the Gray Kudu
took the nut and inspected it.
Giving the doctor a nod, Sandesky
handed the Kudu the bag. With a smile, the Kudu waived the children
on and sat down with Dr. Sandesky following suite. Turning to the
group “Two security members, please stay. The rest of you leave
before you make more trouble for me.”
It took three hours to get back through
the forest. The doctor returned later with his guard some time after
sunset. All personnel were accounted for with no casualties.”
With the children found, a discussion
of the Kudu was started. The civilians believed they should be
exterminated like some pest that was eating their crops. While
security was more interested in keeping the civilian population from
acting on their own. The scientific staff believed an evacuation was
in order, something most were not in favor of. Fortunately, no one
had a choice in the matter.
Reports from the security and science
staff made their way to the highest levels of the Earth government.
An emergency council was convened and it was decided that this was to
important a chance to pass up. Humans had found numerous planets to
colonize with many more to be terraformed. But a chance to observe
and study a new species as it developed at such a rapid pace was to
much to ignore. The order came down, the planet was now quarantined
and all personal with exception to the scientific personnel and some
security forces would remain.
The Science center was expanded to
double the number of personnel it could hold while much of the town
was demolished and removed from the planet. All the while the Kudu
could be seen watching from the tree lines. Observing the valley
intently.
As time passed, a key to the puzzle of
why the Kudu evolved so quickly was found. The interbreeding of the
Kudoe and Squirrels was a catalyst for the change. After humans
left, the evolution of the Kudu slowed. It was discovered that a
virus was taking snippets of human DNA and adding it to the malleable
Kudu DNA. Much of the time it would fail leading to cancer and
terrible mutations. But in enough occasions the DNA was in the right
spot and changed the very nature of the Kudu.
Without humanity on the planet the
virus was of little concern. But as a precaution, the Kudu were
inoculated against the virus and in time it was eradicated from the
planet. For the remainder of humanities years in the universe the
science station was manned. Through the war to the time of magic,
the scientists were there watching, learning, and interacting.
Then, one day, the Kudu went to the
science center and no one was there. The scientists returned to
Earth, and the Kudu were alone. For a thousand years the Kudu would
develop some of the most spectacular magical technologies around.
Until they created their greatest achievement, the Venture. A ship
that would let the Kudu travel to other stars.
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