10

The next night, at Kairo's little shipping depot, Safari Joe tried his nighttime routine once more. And again he was caught. Kairo was completely pleasant, and helpful, always willing to show the hunter what he wanted to know. Joe was humiliated. He did not like being outsmarted, and there were few that were able. He was hunter, not prey! He knew of course there were cameras about the place, and he knew by that second night that his host was playing with him. Kairo knew he was making these late night trips and yet allowed him to do it. That is for a little while, then he came in just to let him know he'd been seen. But he let Joe get pretty far each time before that! Either he wanted him to see what was going on, or he had no intention of letting him out alive. The hunter bristled with anger every time he thought about this possibility. No one caged the greatest hunter in the galaxy!

Slowly but surely, as the days went by, Safari Joe found out more and more about his host, even though he kept walking into humiliating ambushes, confronted by the unpleasant smile and the completely bogus intent to help. The more he found out, the more he didn't like him. It was nearing the end of his intended stay on the little desert moon, but he didn't care. He had this horrible nagging feeling that he knew the other human from somewhere, he had to know who he was! He had a feeling that as soon as he found out, Kairo would be taking that miserable jerk Cantel's place in a cage.

***

Back on Safari Joe's safari estate, Usiko and Ze'ev had convinced Kamata to let them live in the same cage. The young Mutant had gone through his whole life without comfort, without having someone to trust. He could not even trust his parents. But this cat, who normally should have been a deadly enemy to his species, offered him the only comfort he had received in his whole life. he had never been held, or sung or read to when he was able to hear it. He had never been rocked or tucked in at night, and he was even unused to being smiled at as a sentient being. His only parents had been slavers, even his natural ones.

And so; even though because of this life of hardship and pain, and because Mutants were enemies of Thunderians, and it should have been very hard for the child to trust anyone; he had no problem accepting the feline as a friend. He trusted Usiko more than he had ever trusted anyone else.

Usiko had found out a lot more about the boy and his unpleasant life. Since birth, he had been trained and treated as a slave by his own parents, him and his seven brothers and sisters. He had been the youngest. At age three, when he was old enough, he was sold at auction. Many Mutant parents sold their children off, it was very profitable, and they felt no love. The Mutants that had good, decent hearts despised their countrymen for this.

Ze'ev had been in the clutches of many different slave owners in his young life, some cruel, some kind, some only fair. It was a cruel one that had caused his deafness. He had been only six, and talked with the other slaves. They had all dreamt of being free, like other Mutants, and had planned an escape.

Three died, two were brought back. Ze'ev never saw the other again, an adult, but himself had endured hours of the excruciating shriek of an electronic siren, blasted through a set of tight fitting earphones. He had not wanted to say what it felt like to have his eardrums shattered. Usiko did not blame him. He had been terrified after that for months. He still wasn't all the way used to it, even after four years.

Usiko in turn told the child about himself. He was from Thundera, and lived with his father, mother, and younger sister. They had been commoners, tradesmen. Usiko had just finished his apprenticeship with his father in his leather working shop, making boots, armor, sheaths, holsters belts, purses, many other things. he had often dreamed of being a warrior, but his family gently reminded him that not many had that honor, and there were none in the family that knew how to fight. They certainly did not have enough money to hire an instructor. And so the young man dreamed. He carried with him a hunting knife that his father had before him, though neither had ever hunted in their life. It had been Usiko's grandfather's. He had not hunter for sport, like the bastard that had caught him and Ze'ev, but to feed his family. And so it was handed down.

His little sister, at eight years old, had just eagerly started learning the trade when the announcement finally came: Thundera was being evacuated. One small bag per Thunderian, that was all that was allowed. Photographs made up most of his mother's belongings, and he put his favorite books and some leather working tools into his own bag, as well as some of his stories and letters from friends.

They had all gotten into their capsules. they knew it would be a long, long time before they landed where they were going, and said their good-byes. His sister was scared. So was he. But they would see each other again when they landed.

However, they could not count on the Mutants.

The real tragedy was not just that thousands of people were left to die on the doomed planet, but that those that did escape were struck down by the Mutants. Few were blown into space to survive in their capsules. Usiko had lost hope of seeing his family again.

Ze'ev was fascinated by these stories, and those he told of the ThunderCats and their king, Claudus. After his older friend finished one story, he would beg him to tell another. Usiko was glad to oblige. He had gotten used to the child staring at his lips when he spoke, and found he liked storytelling. The two grew close.

When two weeks went by, and there was sign of the hunter, they were curious. Not in anyway unhappy that he wasn't back on time, but curious. There were also other changes that were occurring there at the resort.

***

Safari Joe was having his own problems. He had found out everything he could about his "host", and he still had no idea who he was. He was perfectly cordial the whole time, and as happy to extend his hospitality to the hunter, but all the time, he gave him that smile that wasn't a smile. The smile that didn't reach the cold, heartless glint of his eyes.

Kairo had been a hunter in his youth. One of the best. One of the least scrupulous. And one of the most successful; when he grew older, he still hunted, but got more into shipping. He was just as successful at this than his earlier profession. He had been wanted by CONTROL for half a dozen violations, and one more serious that the others. And that was what Safari Joe could not for the life of him find out. Kairo didn't want him to find out. Not yet. He wasn't done toying with the hunter in his home.

Joe knew he should be heading back. He knew that he should be getting himself back to his hunter's resort and forget this ridiculous quest. But he could not. he was a curious human by nature, but this went beyond that. There was something driving him on. Maybe it was the mocking twist of Kairo's mouth, or the sickening feeling he got when he tried to rack his brains as to where he had met the man before. And he didn't even seem to care that Safari Joe was there. Not at all. he conducted his business as usual by communicator and computer, and his shipments were sent and received by drone ship so no one ever had to land on the hostile little moon. And the moon was in no one's jurisdiction. When Kairo was ready to move on, he would make sure he had nothing with him that could possibly incriminate him. Kairo Zarack was a cunning, intelligent man.

On the first night of the third week Joe Gregor sighed and lay down in his borrowed bunk. And he dreamt...

***

Again he was with his father. After the young man had caught the Jondron, he had rapidly learned more and more, and become very good in his hunting. By the time he was twelve, he could be called a seasoned hunter. He had gone on three hunting trips alone, and caught or killed countless creatures with his father, though his father lent him no help. He had his own creatures to hunt.

Cody Gregor was proud of his son. He was intelligent, and a good learner, and he was getting strong. The young man had not yet hit puberty, and his young bones would not support a lot of muscle, especially since he was a little skinny for his age, but he was wiry. What muscle he had was well toned and well defined, and he was tough.

This month, Cody and his son would be going to a place they had gone so many times before, even before the boy had caught his first jondron. Joe had hunted there as a small child, because its natural inhabitants were not dangerous, and were good for a small boy to practice on. He also loved the tropical climate of the little planet; a balmy jungle climate, with a lot of rivers and waterfalls and natural fountains. He could live there, he had decided. He wouldn't mind at all.

Joe was excited. He always loved going to the uncharted jungle planet, but this time it would mean disaster. He had thought it before to be a sanctuary; it would be no longer.

"Come on, Joe!" the half annoyed, half amused voice of his father drifted into the house.

Joe Gregor grinned and laughed, a pleasant, boyish sound, one that the girls would find very attractive if he was interested in them. He wasn't, not yet. "I'll be there in a minute, Dad!" he called. He was gathering his gear. He wanted to be ready for anything.

"It's about time. What, were you packing your whole room up?" Had anyone else spoken these words, the young man would have taken offense, but Joe only grinned once more.

"Yeah, you have a problem with that? I'm a hunter, you know, I have to be prepared!"

Cody Gregor threw his head back and laughed hard. He smacked his son lightly upside the head. "Boy, you're getting cocky, kid," he said affectionately as they got into the shuttle. "Gonna have to do something about that."

Joe gave his father an impish grin. "How many people say I act just like you?"

Cody laughed again. "Many. And I am proud to hear them say it."

Joe thought a minute. "Me too."

The first few days on the planet were uneventful. too uneventful. They had not seen a single prey animal, only the little species that denned there.

"Where are all the animals?" Joe asked his father one day as they went out one more time to hunt.

"Not sure, son. This place is usually teeming with creatures. That's why we don't come here often, we don't want to overhunt..." He frowned a little.

"What, Dad?"

"Nothing." But still he was trouble, and Joe could see it. But for now he said nothing.

The day progressed, and still they found nothing. Both were getting tired and cranky, and they had decided to go back home early, and try again another place another week. But they never got the chance.

As they headed back to the ship that served as their living quarters while on a trip, they heard something in the bushes. Something big. Cody grinned slowly, the first time all day he'd smiled, as he and his son had been completely frustrated by that point. "Looks like we might not go home empty-handed after all, Joe," he whispered. "Be ready."

The child nodded and readied his rifle. He was not yet strong enough to carry one as his father did, the heavy duty, all-purpose hunting rifle, but the one he held was full power and worked well enough for him.

As the team crept forward toward their prey, the prey suddenly stepped from the bushes. On two legs. Wearing a nasty grin and leveling a rifle of his own at the two. Both stepped back in surprise. "Who are you?" Joe asked, his voice a little higher from alarm that he would have liked.

"Ask your daddy, little rat," the man said to him, and Joe frowned. He didn't much care for being called a little rat, and he raised his rifle.

The new arrival only laughed, an Joe looked uncertainly at his father. To his surprise he looked angry and tense, and a little bit afraid! His father, afraid! "Back off, Joe," he said in a low voice.

Joe had never seen his father look quite like this. He looked hard at the other guy, a guy not as old as his father, maybe in his twenties. "Hey, I know you! you call yourself the best hunter in any world, but you're not!"

"Joe, I said stay out of this!" Joe blinked and backed off as Cody glared at the other man. "What do you want? No wonder there has been no prey."

The other man smiled nastily. "That's right. Because a real hunter got to it first." He took only a second to grin at Joe. "So, your dad has been called the greatest hunter in the galaxy. Well you know what, kid? I think I am. But unlike this weakling, I collect more challenging prey than the dumb animals you guys trap."

Cody's eyes narrowed. "Leave us be. We have no quarrel with you."

The other man's smile suddenly dropped. "Well I have with you!" Then he fired!

Joe Gregor's eyes widened as his father ducked, having seen the shot coming. He fired back, but his weapon was only on stun, and he had no time to change it!

As the two men tussled, Joe switched his rifle to a deadly level, but before he could even raise it, he screamed at a searing pain in his arm, and he and the gun went flying backwards. The other hunter had shot him in the arm! Too shocked to yet feel pain, he stared openmouthed as the fight went on.

Cody had seen this and heard his son's scream. With renewed effort, he struck his opponent with the butt of his gun. It connected! But the other man did not give him time to recover his gun. He raised his own and shot him. Just shot him in cold blood.

Cody Gregor dropped, collapsed on the jungle floor before his horrified son's eyes.

The other hunter grinned. He had a bloody nose and a gash on his head, but he had been the victor. For good measure, he put another round in the body of Cody Gregor, grinning deliberately at the kid. Then he bent down, drew his large knife, and jabbed it into the fallen hunter's throat, severing the head carefully from the body. He kept a close watch on Joe, but need not have worried The boy was staring horrified, unable to move.

As the victor finally got the head cleared and raised the bloody object in triumph young Joe finally screamed. He screamed in terror and rage and grief. Finally he came out of his paralysis. He went for his gun, now set on kill, and aimed.

But once again the older, more experienced hunter was faster, and he took his own gun and swung it to connect with the side of Joe's head. In his fury, Joe had made the mistake of getting too close.

With the boy lying dazed on the floor next to the body of his father, the man grinned at him and walked away. "Enjoy yourself, kid."

For a minute nothing happened. Then Joe broke into loud sobs as he clutched the mutilated body of his murdered father.

***

Safari Joe sat bolt upright in bed, stifling a scream. That would be all he needed, to scream where that bastard Kairo would hear. Damn.

He closed his eyes and went out to pace the halls, stopping at the bathroom to get a drink. Finally he had calmed down. Why now? he thought he had left that behind. He hadn't dreamt of his father in years. Why now were these visions haunting him? With a weary sigh, the hunter went back to bed.

Part 9

Part 11

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