INTSTM 2

Nine days after finding the river, R'ka-thwei crouched on a tree branch, as she gazed out at the vast expanse of the ocean. Nine days of using the river as a means of travel had allowed her to cover more ground than she had during the previous three moons of traveling. She cycled through the visual modes of her mask as she looked up and down the beach. To her left, the beach extended as far as her mask would allow her to see. In the distance to her right, she saw cliffs that extended upwards into mountains with peaks somewhere above the clouds.

When she saw those cliffs, her massive heart began to pound with excitement. Those cliffs and mountains meant a possible cave, and there would be many types of game to hunt. That which dwelled in the forest, the jungle, the mountains, on the shore lines, and even in the sea itself would be available for her to hunt. She might even be able to keep a small collection of trophies from her hunts. This area would mean the beginning of a new way of life on this world, and the seemingly wondrous possibilities available excited her.

Beneath her mask, R'ka-thwei's mandibles began twitching in eager anticipation. That twitch, was the only movement R'ka-thwei allowed herself, as she thoroughly examined her surroundings with careful determination. She was not going to allow herself to make even the slightest mistake. Not now; not when she was so close to being able to make some semblance of a home for herself. She knew that it would take a while for her cloaking system to dry out, and she was determined not to move unless she had to, until that happened. Once her cloaking system did dry out, however, she was on the move. She headed straight towards the cliffs that ended in the ocean.

It took her six days of careful searching to find a cave that would suit her needs. She had found literally dozens of caves, but most were either too small, too large, had too many openings, or were too exposed. The one she finally settled on, opened in only one direction, and that was towards the sea. There were two rocky ledges a short distance beneath the opening; with the first being perhaps two nok below the level of low tide, and the other about a nok and a half below the high tide. That was perfect since it meant that the rocky path to it was concealed by constantly moving water which would cover any possible tracks. Even though the height of the entrance meant that during low tide, she would have to jump close to seventeen nok high to get into the cave.

The somewhat small and narrow entrance was more of a long and slightly winding tunnel that opened into a nicely sized chamber after a distance of about thirty nok. The chamber was much longer than it was wide, and high enough that she could easily stretch while standing without quite touching the roof of the cave. The very back of the cave had several nooks about four nok wide, and the one on the right side of the cave was almost below an over head channel that led back outside at a higher altitude. It was almost a perfect place for a fire as it was, but she knew that it would need some work to get it right. The entire cave would need a lot of work, but once done, it would be more than merely suitable. As she looked around, R'ka-thwei knew that she could actually make a livable home here. A home that she would need to last her the rest of her life.

On the first few days in her new home, R'ka-thwei spent many hours using both her wrist blade, and the armored glove in her right wrist unit to level the floor, smooth down the walls, and otherwise modify the cave to suit her needs. The nook that she'd decided to use as a fireplace was widened so that one end was directly beneath the upper channel that would serve as a vent for smoke and fumes. A slight depression in the floor of the cave near the right hand wall was smoothed out and enlarged so that she could line it with skins and furs for a bed. Ledges, and ripples in the walls of the cave were reworked to become shelves and hollows for items that would one day be placed there. Nooks and crannies in the walls were enlarged to make cubby holes to hold things. At times, the work was slow going, because she needed to conceal any and all traces of her presence in the area. That was why all of the detritus was hurled far out into the ocean to vanish forever beneath the ceaseless waves.

It was while she was using the inertial magnification system in her armored glove that it happened. She had been enlarging a depression in the rock wall so she would have a spot for a particularly prized trophy that was just waiting to be hunted. Thoughts of how several different skulls would look in that spot floated in her mind, when her armored fist crashed completely through the cave wall. R'ka-thwei stared at it stupidly for several minutes while her disbelieving mind tried to comprehend what had happened. Once she did realize what had occurred, she began slamming her armored fist into the wall angrily. Frustration was evident in her every move, as she continued to widen the hole so she could see what was on the other side. She was positive that this would make her nearly perfect cave unusable now. If this hole led outside in any way, then she would have to abandon this cave and try to find another one. She had put too much work into this cave to just give up on it, and that was why she was quickly knocking away the surrounding rock so she could see what was on the other side. When she finally had an opening large enough for her to peer through, R'ka-thwei stuck her head in, and looked around.

R'ka-thwei stared at the chamber in relief. There was no exit to it that she needed to be concerned about. Seeing this, she took a closer look at what was there. This chamber which had remained sealed since its formation had been caused by an underground stream. There was a fairly large pool of water over on one side where a small but steady stream of water flowed constantly. She couldn't see where the water was draining but she knew it was since the level of the pool never rose. Suddenly her mandibles hit the inside of her mask as they went slack. She was as stunned as if someone had just knocked her silly when she realized how this particular chamber could be used.

As soon as the possibilities registered in her mind, R'ka-thwei was using her armored fist with renewed vigor as she began relentlessly pounding at the cavern wall. Chips, shards, and chunks of rock were literally flying as she began tearing the wall of the cavern out by brute force. After more than an hour of smashing, tearing, and slicing at the rocky cavern wall, she stopped and looked at the result. She would have to really crouch low to enter this little antechamber, but once a fire was added, it would serve well as both a bathing room, and a steam room. Plus it was also a source of fresh water, which meant that she wouldn't need to go all the way back to the river to obtain something to drink.

The next four days were spent setting up the cave to become her living quarters. A pair of frames made from the spines of a Spike-hound held the thick heavily armored scaled skins of the beasts to serve as a pair of doors for her cave. The first was set a fair distance back in the low narrow tunnel to function as a main door, while the other served as a door to her new steam room. She hadn't gathered any furs yet, so she was still sleeping on the rock floor of the cave, but now that she needed to go hunting soon, she planned to specifically go after creatures that had a decent coat on them. Four years of sleeping exposed on tree branches with no furs to lie on, or even cover herself with leaves was more than long enough, and she planned to correct that little discomfort.

She left her cave by climbing up the face of the four hundred nok high cliff, because she could maintain her cloak while doing so. Although she rarely used the cliff to either enter or leave her cave, she did so this time only because she knew that she would be hunting in the mountains where there would be more fur bearing creatures. Going back however, she knew that she would wade slowly through the water until she was right below her cave. That way, both she and any burden she might be carrying would be concealed right up until she left the water.

After scaling the cliff, she began making her way up the hills and into the actual mountains. Moving slowly and quietly, R'ka-thwei stalked between the short trees that were far too small to hold her weight. During her scouting trips, she had seen some very large beasts grazing not too far below the snow line of these mountains, and that was what she was now after. It took several hours of ranging near the snow line to spot one of the massive beasts, and even though she had no idea what it was called, she knew that it couldn't be anything but dangerous!

If there were any pieces of reliable information that was truly known about this world, it was that all of the life forms on it had been imported by both the Yautja and the Great Yautja over countless generations and eons. Plant life had been selected to provide the maximum amount of oxygen, and nutrition for thousands of creatures long before those creatures had ever been brought here. There was supposedly even a continent that sustained creatures which could be found nowhere else in the universe because they had long ago gone extinct on their native worlds. It was also known that most of the creatures had been genetically treated to halt any evolutionary progress in order to maintain the desired level of danger and aggression. Other creatures had been altered to make them even more dangerous by causing them to become larger and stronger. This was a world on which even a vast majority of the insects were dangerous in that most of them possessed various toxins that could be deadly in even small amounts. The only aspect of this world that could be remotely considered safe was that the fruits, vegetables, and plants were intended to be edible by the massive and dangerous herbivores that now inhabited this planet.

As soon as she spotted the massive beast, R'ka-thwei moved so that she was down wind of it. As huge as this creature was, she did not want to risk getting trampled by it! Although she had no idea what it was, it would not have surprised her in the slightest to learn that the creature was an oversized version of the Woolly Mammoth from a planet now called Earth by the natives. At more than twenty nok in height at the shoulder, it was more than double the height that it had ever reached on its own world. Massive tusks that were as long as the beast was tall, jutted forward from the creature's mouth, and were used for both clearing snow, and as weapons for defense. This would not be an easy kill.

Creeping forward as close as she dared, R'ka-thwei readied her combi-stick to use as a spear against the creature. She moved closer, and slowly stood to adjust her grip for the throw. So great was her effort, that she unknowingly released a soft grunt of strain. That sound was all that was needed for the huge beast to move its head. Instead of penetrating through the eye as she had intended, her spear struck in the center of the creature's forehead, at the base of that long prehensile nose. The great beast roared in a mixture of rage and pain as it turned and charged at the source of the strange sound.

Seeing that her cast had gone awry, and that she was now the hunted, R'ka-thwei's blood ran cold. At first, she turned and tried to run for it, but she heard the beast gaining on her rapidly. Trees were shoved carelessly to the side or knocked down entirely by the raging charge of the beast. The enraged roaring of the beast was so loud that she could feel it in her very bones. Knowing that she had no other option but to stand and fight it out, she turned and readied an al'Nagara in her right hand. Flipping the long bladed sword end for end, so that she now held the blade in a position to throw it, she waited. Then the moment was right, she hurled her sword with every ounce of strength she had, grunting savagely with the strain. The bladed weapon twirled through the air to impact a mere nok below her spear. R'ka-thwei gaped in stunned disbelief as the massive beast continued to charge straight at her! She was certain that her blade would have penetrated far enough into the skull of the beast to hit the brain, but apparently she was wrong. With no time for another try, she turned with every intention of abandoning stealth completely and simply running for her life.

She had taken no more than three dozen steps when a loud crash caused her to glance behind her. The massive beast was sliding forward along the ground as its momentum kept it going for several nok. When it finally stopped sliding, she saw that there was no movement. Hesitantly she stepped towards it. Then, she saw that the creature wasn't even breathing. Cautiously, she moved closer, and then she suddenly lunged forward to shove the embedded blade of her sword deeper into the head of the beast. She pulled both of her weapons out with slightly shaking hands, and stared in awe at what she had accomplished. By far this was the single largest beast she had ever killed. She took a moment to steady herself and calm her pounding heart, before she walked around the creature to admire it. The huge beast was covered in a massively thick coat that was about a full nok in length, and she didn't even try to resist the sudden impulse to run her fingers through it. Beneath her mask, her mandibles spread into a very pleased grin as she thought of how comfortable such a lusciously thick fur would be to sleep in. The hide from this kill alone would provide her with several furs in which to make a proper sleeping nest. The only problem that she could see now was that she would have to clean this massive beast, and somehow get it back to her cave.

R'ka-thwei settled to the floor of her cave in exhaustion. Even with her great strength, it had taken her nine trips to retrieve everything that she could use from her kill. She took a few well earned moments of rest, and consulted some of the information on her wrist computer. It was a stroke of the purest luck that she had that information in her possession. It was something that her Bearer had insisted that she keep with her during her Chiva. At the time, she had thought the information useless. After all, what need would she have of information related to cleaning the different types of animals? Why would she need a survival guide that detailed how to build different items and tools? She recalled nearly scoffing at the idea that she might need such things on her Chiva. Now, it was a different story altogether, because though she hadn't needed it then, she most certainly did now.

She closed her eyes and silently thanked the spirit of her Bearer for watching over her enough to have made certain that she'd had such now vital information with her. That block of data had already saved her live once, by letting her know that only the liver of an herbivore could be safely eaten, and that those of a carnivore were to be avoided. It was a piece of information that she would never have known or guessed had she not read it from her wrist computer. That information now let her know that there was a tool in her medical kit that would not only serve to seal the internal tissue damage from deep slashes, but on another setting could be used to preserve a skin. According to the data she was reading, the skin would only last half as long as one made using the regular methods, but for survival, it would work.

Once cleaned, the dome of the skull from the beast became a large pot in which she placed diced pieces of the liver, kidneys, lungs, some of the meat, and water to make a stew. Then she added a large amount of diced fat from the beast for flavor. The heart she quickly spitted to slow roast over the small open fire. While her food started to cook, she began using her wrist blades to make a few spoons from the tusks of the beast. She regretted that she had to lose such worthy trophies in this manner, but she knew that she was going to be here for the rest of her life. She knew that there would be other opportunities to claim such trophies. She easily made several spoons from the tip of one tusk, along with a few bowls and cups from the base of that same tusk. For now, they were rough and crudely made, but she could finish them later. She turned her attention to the seven sections of fur.

By the time she finished sealing the seventh and last section of skin for her bedding, her mouth was watering so badly from the delicious smells of her dinner that she could barely concentrate. This would be the first stew that she had eaten since the day she was condemned to live out her life on this world, and she intended to thoroughly enjoy it. She took her food and sat near the entrance of her cave, so that she was looking out over the ocean as she ate. That was when she realized that the stew itself was a trophy of a sort. It symbolized the start of a new life, a new beginning, and a new home on this world. She now had a cave to provide shelter, a bed lined with real furs instead of leaves, crude but functional dishes to show some semblance of civilization, and even the luxury of a steam bath if she took the time to dump heated rocks in the pool of water in her bathing chamber. She would be the first to admit that it wasn't much, but it was a start.

There were many things that she thought about while she ate. Even though there were no seasonings in her stew, it was the most delectable meal she had eaten since her exile several years earlier. There were many unbidden and soft growls of contented bliss to accompany the sounds made by her chewing. At that moment, it didn't matter that she wasn't sitting at a table listening idly as her Bearer discussed hunting methods. Nor did it matter that the utensils were crudely fashioned. What mattered right then, was that she was alive, and that she was no longer limited to what she could carry with her.

After eating, she removed her armor, weapons, mesh suit, and clothing. She used several lengths of bone that served to divert the water to the exit point so that she now had a large pool of still water. Then, using a couple of lengths of ivory that had been carved for this one specific purpose, she grabbed a large rock that was extremely hot and dropped it in the pool with an angry sounding hiss of steam. That first rock was quickly followed by more than a dozen more. Within moments the water was almost unbearably hot, and R'ka-thwei hissed at the nearly scalding heat as she eased herself into it. Then a long drawn out groan of the purest bliss left her mouth as her mandibles clicked in the pleasure of the first hot bath since she'd been sent to this world. She lay there for a while and soaked in the steaming hot water, as it slowly eased the aches and soothed the stiffness out of her muscles.

Upon getting out of her makeshift tub, R'ka-thwei eyed her grimy, dirty, and unwashed clothing and her mandibles curled in disgust. She would tend to that problem tomorrow. In the meantime, she eased herself down into the soft furs that now lined her bed, and moaned in delight. She pulled one thick and heavy sheet of fur over her and snuggled deeper in to them. Then, she closed her eyes knowing that tonight; she would sleep much better than she had in years!