6

It had been a week. A whole week. What does a week feel like in a cage the size of a small studio apartment? Especially when every morning before dawn, you're hauled out of that cage for a "training session" and you're naked, and droves of people come to gawk at you and point and say "Oh, how cute!" and ask if they can touch your fur? A whole hell of a lot longer than a week, that's for sure. Usiko asked himself many times which was worse, the hour to two hour training sessions, or the humiliation. He decided that he couldn't tell.

Ze'ev said little. He was fortunate for his deafness for the reason that he couldn't hear the humiliating remarks, but it was also bad because he couldn't hear a command if one of the humans made it, and sometimes he got into trouble. Much of the staff knew by now that Usiko had told the truth when he said the child was deaf, but some still didn't; and some did, but got mad anyway because they were jerks. And the young hyena could hear no words of comfort from Usiko, no soft voice, just an empty void.

He spoke almost normally, but he spoke loud, as many who can not hear do since they can't hear themselves. For this reason, Usiko believed that the boy had not been born that way, for those born deaf had never heard sound to know what it was supposed to sound like, they can only imitate mouth movement. Usiko had tried to talk to him, but hadn't been able to find out. Ze'ev mostly sat on the bed-bunk, or on the floor with his back to the people, ignoring any that might reach through the cage to pet him. To him it was the most pleasant thing about the whole ordeal. He didn't mind being petted. He never seemed to show signs of embarrassment, only fear or timidity, or docility. Usiko wondered more and more about him.

One good thing happened in that week: at the end of it, after his hunt with his former comrade (the others had been very subdued after that), Safari Joe was leaving again. Usiko had learned from others in the same miserable predicament as he that the hunter spent most of his time off planet. He had no family or anything to keep him tied down and he mostly hunted. Usiko had asked what happened when Safari Joe ran out of space in his vast safari display, and he had an animal (or a person, he thought bitterly) he wanted to put in, and he hadn't liked the answer. Not at all. The less desirables...well Usiko understood the "hunts" a little better now.

"Well, I'm off!" Safari Joe grinned at the Thunderian as he went out the door.

"Good!" Usiko called back. He glared at the hunter and sat on the bunk. He was getting used to being stark naked in front of everyone and their brother. The training sessions had taught him just what he was supposed to do and how to behave .to avoid pain, a few good shocks through the body illustrating th point if he refused an order. But he did everything with a wary watchfulness. He supposed in time he would be just like the others, doing everything automatically, and obediently. The thought made him shudder.

Safari Joe was in a good temper and only chuckled. "Maybe I can find you a mate, eh? I don't have any Thunderian cubs yet."

Despite himself Usiko raised an eyebrow as his eyes widened. He knew that breeding occurred in zoos, with the animals, but surely they would force a sentient being to...and while being watched?

The hunter grinned again, knowing he'd rattled the cat, then he left.

As his ship blasted it way into the atmosphere, Safari Joe felt even better. He liked his resort and his home there better than any other, but he was a loner, and an adventurer, and he was happiest away from the people and the lights of a civilization. He was content in a wild jungle, where every moving thing could kill him, or in a silent forest, where at any time, a viscous canine could all of a sudden jump out at him, ready to tear his throat out. It was the thrill of the hunt, and the exhilaration of stalking something that could rip you to shreds in three seconds that he liked. It was what he lived for.

"Ah, Deverondin. Charted three hundred and sixteen years ago, if you believe the stories." But Deverondin had no inhabitants, no sentient inhabitants, anyway, and no visitors. It was understandable. The desert like moon had no water on it, one of the freaks of the universe, and had no creatures bigger than the average rat dog., but it was among the deadliest known to man.

There lived no plant, no insect, no animal on the small moon that was not poisonous to some degree. There had been exactly one expedition there, the humans that had found the place only three of the twenty-five person team had gotten out of there alive. They charted it, recorded it, and wisely no one else went there, at least not that was ever written down. There were the occasional madman, or overconfident conqueror, and the more frequent cocky explorer, but they would have been lucky to make it out alive.

Joe grinned as he thought about this. He would try this place for the first time as a challenge. There were no forests, no jungles, no cover. It was wide open desert all the way through, and the most bizarre creatures he's ever heard of, ones that lived without water. They would make a very popular attraction to his display. The hunter set the autopilot to take them within an hour of the place and leaned back to take a nap.

***

"You're trying too hard, son," said the strong, confident voice. "If you strain your eyes to see it, you'll pass right over it without ever catching a glimpse. Relax a little. Let your eye see what it will. But stay alert. That thing's dangerous, and it's not happy."

The young boy nodded, biting his lip and trying not to show how scared he was. This was his first time hunting something that could do him any harm. He had no doubt his father could take it down with little effort, but he'd said he wouldn't interfere unless he had to. The only comforting fact was that he'd be right at his side the whole time. "A-all right, dad," he said. He'd been ten at the time. He tried to relax a bit, to get rid of the little slivers of tension in his mind that felt like worms crawling through his brain matter. Now that he was not straining for a glimpse of the one thing he was looking for he noticed a lot more. His sharp eye caught movements of small animals in the grass, and his ears were less picky, and heard buzzing from bugs and rustling of leaves. He wiped his face in the stifling heat.

Cody smiled at his son. "That's better. You see how much more you can observe?" The boy nodded. "All right, let's move on a little." Cody Gregor had thought a long time before deciding his son was ready for this. The planet they had traveled to was safe; nothing more harmful than a drikar snake lived there, a snake which bit with a mouth that had no teeth. It was extremely poisonous but it had no way to convey it to a victim. They ate bugs.

Joe was scared, but he couldn't admit that to his father. His dad as the bravest man he'd ever met, he couldn't be a coward in front of him. But there was a jondron around here somewhere! His father had caged it, and released it on the tiny planet. After a few hours, they had gone out looking for it. Joe had to take it down without killing it. "Killing is fine when you want meat or a trophy, but for the most part, the challenge is catching something without killing it. Without harming it. When they have natural weapons that can rip you open, that is a major feat," his father had said. Joe had agreed.

For hours they'd been hunting. Joe's senses were keyed up, the adrenaline flowing like a river through his body. He had experienced this thrill of hunting early in his life, and now it was at its peak. "Wh-what was that?"

"Shhh," Cody said gently, then whispered in the boy's ear, "When you see something you can't identify, be quiet. It might be your quarry." He smiled as the boy nodded and crept forward.

Joe's big eyes were wide as he cautiously approached a small grove of trees. He switched off the safety, kicking himself mentally for not doing it before that, as the click was very loud. The movement he had heard a moment before stopped and he froze. Now you did it, he said to himself. His eyes searched frantically...then he remembered his father's words, and relaxed the smallest bit, picking up input from all his senses. A rustle of grass, but no wind? His eyes widened, and he crouched.

Joe caught the image of a large feline shape, with a head almost too wide for it's body, and unnatural looking eyes, peeking out for a split second at him, before the beast leapt!

It was Joe's observation of the grass that had saved him from serious injury, as the beast sailed over him, as big as a lioness, with wicked claws, and a mouthful of teeth that looked like a cluster of sewing needles. Long sewing needles. Joe knew the lcreature well, he had studied it in books, and on holograph projectors. He screamed once in startlement and pain as the claws raked the side of his face and knocked him to the ground.

Cody tensed and watched the situation very, very carefully. His son was all right for now.

As the jondron whirled for another attack, the lithe young boy was already on his feet, and whirled as it did. Both attacked at the same time.

There was a bright stunner flash, a powerful blast, as the charging beast hit the beam head on, and shook its head, unfazed. Joe leapt to the side, desperate to avoid its claws and its teeth. Frantically jacking up the setting on his weapon, as the beast whirled again to charge, he heard his father's calm voice telling him to think, and to control.

Again he bit his lip as he thought. He had been made to study weaknesses and strengths. The cat creature was a very hardy thing, not much could hurt its sturdy frame, tough skin, and solid bones...but it had a weak spot! A soft pocket of flesh on the left side of its neck, that almost looked like gills, where both genders carried their young before nthey could walk on their own. He was sure his father would not have captured a carrying animal, he didn't beleive in harming the young, but if he could hit it...

With an excited grin, he aimed as his quarry attacked one more time.

He made it less than three yards. Joe's shot had stopped it cold, and it sprawled in the leaves and dirt. With a wild grin and an excited yell, Joe raised his weapon in the air. "I did it!"

Cody smiled proudly and took his son into a manly hug. "Good job. Good job, son. Let's get some rocket cuffs on his and get him back to the ship." He pulled his son back to look at him. "And get those claw marks cleaned."

Joe was too excited to worry about claw marks. He felt pain from them, but it was distant. Someone else's pain. He had done it; taken down his first big predator. Just like his dad...

***

Safari Joe opened his eyes with a slightly bewildered look. Why was the jungle beeping? Jungle? The hunter looked at the flashing green light on the console of his ship and came back to his senses. "Ah, almost there," he said to himself, his voice fuzzy with sleep. Great job, just fall asleep before taking on the most dangerous creatures around. He chuckled amusedly, but was a little distracted. He had not dreamt of his father in a long time. But now wasn't the time for that; now was the time to hunt.

Safari joe's father
Cody

Joe as a child, hunting with his father
Joe

A jondron, a nasty feline creature that was joe's first big catch
jondron

Part 5

Part 7

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