Predator Complex: Magic (2/3)

“Humans aren’t predators?! Excuse me dear colleague but seriously?! I can gladly take you on our next trip to Earth and there I can personally arrange for you to be hunted down by Humans. You can even have the choice if you rather want to deal with those who do that as a hobby, those who do it as a job and those who are trained to hunt Humans themselves. So what you rather have?!” – Madu Fillu-Xito on the podium discussion of the Biannual Interstellar Xenology Forum in response to the ‘Predator denialist’ Gooram Jwi Uruqbi

The forest here at the top the mountain had lightened somewhat in density. On the opposite side of the bight lay a small clearing in the middle of which someone had for some reason put a small metal tower with a platform on top and to it’s right was a small open hut. As he got out of the car Madu wondered which purpose this served as it didn’t match the description of any hide he had ever heard of. He considered a number of possibilities but couldn’t make any sense of it.

“What is this for?”, he simply asked and pointed towards the tower and hut with a free winged claw, directing his companions gaze.

“A viewing platform and a hiking hut. A place for hikers to rest safe of the environments and have an excellent view into the valley onto some of the settlements there”, Alexander explained while gesturing to the valley which indeed stretched out below them opposite of the viewing platform. Only then Madu realised that there was an entire strip of the forest opposite of the tower cut free of trees which indeed enabled an excellent view. The concept at first seemed foreign to him but he realised that species which couldn’t fly would have need of such artificial platforms to get an overview of their surroundings.

“Oh! So it’s to orient yourself while on a..uhm hike?”

Alexander who had leaned onto the car frowned and took a moment to answer.

“I suppose you could use it for that in a pinch, but I’d say it’s simply for the pleasure of getting an elevated view. We can’t just fly up after all. It’s something special for us to get that sort of perspective at all. Say, do you know what a hike even is?”

Madu let go of a surprised but subdued shriek feeling caught awfully off guard. It was no use to pretend though and let go of a small defeated trill.

“No”, he meekly admitted, “I’d be grateful if you’d explain that too .”

“Hah! No worries man, this is a new world for you after all. Hiking is just the act of walking through the mountains. It’s part exercise part pleasure. A way to get out into nature and away from everything.”

Madu nodded in an imitation of the Human gesture.

“Makes sense, we have something similar just with flying. I do enjoy that on occasion myself though isn’t this hiking fairly exhausting? How much distance do hikers cover?”

“Hmm, I suppose it can be yeah, but then again we are kinda built to do that anyway. Distance depends a lot on what the hiker is comfortable with. I’d say most people keep it in the eight to sixteen kilometre range. That’s like two to six hours of hiking depending on how much elevation gain you cover and how fast you go. It’s not unheard of to do thirty to forty kilometres, but then we talk about an entire day’s worth of hiking and people who are used to it.”

Madu’s feathers rose in surprise as he converted the numbers in his head. Those were quite considerable distances for a grounded species and he couldn’t come up with any known spacefaring species that would cover these sort of distances for pleasure. When he thought about it he wasn’t sure how many species could cover these distances through mountains within a day at all. At least on foot. He had of course heard of the ridiculous endurance Humans displayed but seeing real life manifestations of it was a different thing.

“Do many people do this hiking? How many come through here? Doesn’t this negatively affect hunting?”

Alexander chuckled in response.

“I’d say many do it, yeah, not everyone though and there is a decent bit of people coming along here. Usually start over in a city a few kilometres east of here or one of the parking lots further down and do a round trip. Fairly easy overall with well established treks and a nice view to boot; and no it doesn’t affect hunting negatively. The wildlife doesn’t really care. They are used to it and know these people aren’t here to harm them. You can pass right under or above them and they wouldn’t even care as long you don’t directly look at them or get within their flight distance.”

Madu wasn’t exactly surprised, this was how species generally behaved everywhere, yet maybe he had expected the wildlife to be more careful of Humans in general. He roused his plumage. No why would they? Like Alexander said: If there is no immediate danger as evidenced by experience why bother being more alert than you need to be? Reducing energy spent to necessary levels was one of the primary instincts of life everywhere and Earth’s biosphere made no exception. It seemed even the most dangerous predators evolution had produced in the known galaxy didn’t change this common law.

Meanwhile Alexander had opened the trunk of his car and gotten a rucksack onto his back and took his rifle out of it’s specially formed bag. This peaked Madu’s interest and he stepped a bit closer, eyeing the weapon. It was a decently long metal tube fitted into a wooden stock that extended a decent bit beyond the tube itself. On top of it was something that Madu guessed was an optical aiming assist of considerable size. It looked a bit different from what he knew but it seemed like a classical gunpowder fuelled weapon many other civilisations had developed though in their cases not to hunt but to defend themselves against predators or violent members of their own species. None of the models he knew reached this size though. Alexander had seemingly noticed his interest and held the rifle out a bit for Madu to inspect a bit closer and so he did, noting down some observations and taking a photo of it with his tablet.

“What calibre is this using? What is the effective range?”

“It’s a repeating rifle with three plus one magazine firing 8×68 bullets classically propelled. This one has a fairly long barrel, so it can go a decent distance. Ideally I would say you shoot at something in the fifty to hundred meter range but I have successfully shot with it at targets up to the two hundred metre range. Beyond that it really starts getting iffy though and the wind needs to be in your favour.”

Madu converted the numbers in his head and was mildly impressed. This would indeed be an effective means to hunt.

“What do you hunt with this?”

“Exclusively big game. Roes, boars, red dear. That sort.”

“Why?”

Instead of explaining Alexander rummaged a bullet out of this pocket and showed it to Madu. His headfeathers rose. It had an impressive size, filling Alexander’s palm from one end to the next and almost as thick as one of his fingers.

“If I shoot this at anything smaller than that, it would either tear it literally apart or turn it’s innards to mush and that would be rather pointless, now would it?”

Madu gave an agreeing but faint chirp. He had indeed never seen a bullet of that size. He didn’t think any other species could even fire something like that. It made some sense logically. Earth had fairly high gravity and all ground bound life had developed thick muscles and bones to compensate for that and so it was only natural that one needed something with more power behind it to kill the animals living here but seeing it in practice still felt unreal.

Satisfied that his feathered alien companion had understood his meaning, Alexander loaded the bullet he had just shown into the rifle and flipped a switch on the side of the chamber up and down again, though Madu didn’t know why, and directed his gaze back down to the alien.

“I suppose this as good as any time for some ground rules? First of all, and I think it’s obvious why now, but don’t get in front of the rifle. Always make sure it points away from you. It wouldn’t be healthy for me to get hit by it by any means and for you it would be certain death no matter where it hits you. Secondly, stay close to me. There are lynxes and wolves in the forest, they won’t dare to get close to me, but by yourself you are a conveniently sized meal. If we get separated for some reason I advise you to take flight and aim east of here for the small town there. Thirdly, on the last meters to the hide and on the hide we only whisper. I will carry you these last few meters, so hopefully your chance of catching a tick or something similar is low. Lastly there is a hornet nest under the roof of the hide, but don’t worry, they won’t do anything to you, they really don’t care about us. If one of the Hornets come close to you, don’t make sudden movements, gently push them away if need be and everything should be fine. If you have any questions left, this is the last chance to discuss them aloud.”

Madu signalled his understanding with another chirp and took a few more notes, especially on how Alexander’s demeanour had shifted to something he perceived as more serious, more professional perhaps. This would have be observed with other hunters.

“Only two things come to mind right now: What is the switch you flipped there? And what are Hornets?”

Alexander’s face formed the most lopsided smile Madu had ever seen and a chuckle emerged from his throat.

“Well the switch is easy, that is the security. It makes sure the rifle doesn’t go of, for example if it would slip and fall to the ground. I always turn it off and on again once I loaded it. It gives a faint click and I can determine by it if it’s actually on or not. As for the Hornets..eh, they are decently large insects, don’t worry, you will see. Just keep calm and you’ll be fine.”

Madu wasn’t quite sure if he were to trust that reassurance as him and his colleagues had learned early and quickly that Humans had a rather fluid definition of what is and is not ‘fine’. In fact a Human telling you ‘It will be fine’ indicated that there was real danger to be had but that they either didn’t expect it to materialise in the best case scenario or simply underestimated it in the worst case. Madu dearly hoped it was the former since Humans had a lot more leeway to underestimate dangers than most other species and so he simply gave another sign of his understanding.

With that Alexander flung his rifle over his shoulder and the both of them set out down a barely driven dirt road which slopped slightly down from where the car was parked. In fact calling it a proper road was a gross overstatement. While there were clear furrows where the wheels of cars had ran along, the middle section of the road was still studded with various short stemmed grasses and flowers blooming in various shades of yellow, red, orange and blue.

Madu hadn’t paid too much attention to the flora around him so far but now as he was silently trodding along the road with his Human companion in the early evenings sun, he saw how much beauty was around him. To the sides of the road even more flowers were blooming, some of them as tall as himself with a few insects buzzing among them. He had never concerned himself much with flora in his studies yet the foreign beauty did stake his fascination. One cluster of yellow knee high flowers on their left which stretched themselves towards the sun drew his interest in particular. He did not know why. They simply did. He noted that there were more of it’s kind up and down the road and that they were all untouched. No signs of feeding damage at all. That left him with only two possible conclusions. Either there were no animals here that would feed on them or…he had to ask.

“Are these poisonous?”

Alexander closed the few steps of distance between them and bowed himself a bit down and then nodded.

“Yeah. Highly so, especially for ruminants. For those it’s almost always deadly and it’s not a pretty death either. Not very healthy for Humans either. There is a whole family of these.”

Alexander pointed at different kind of yellow flowers with thinner pedals.

“Those are relatives. Also poisonous. Not quite as bad but would not recommend to eat either. Over there are some distant cousins of theirs that pretend to be them.”

Now Alexander pointed at yet another flower which at first glance looked very similar to the first but Madu quickly noted that they had fewer flower pedals. Still, he could see how they could be confused.

“These are barely poisonous at all. In fact they have a long history of use in traditional medicine. They contain compounds that help with depression and are used in concentrated form for this purpose still. They also have antiseptic properties so you can grind their flowers into a paste and rub them on small wounds as a disinfectant. I think there are other use cases as well, but those are the only ones I can remember.”

Madu was genuinely amazed as he turned his head slightly up towards Alexander.

“You seem to know a lot about this.”

“Eh, eventually one begins to wonder what the hell is actually growing besides the road you tread so often, so I gradually read up on it. There are apps you can use to identify all of these with a camera and get detailed descriptions of them, so it’s not like this is hard to get information.”

Madu noted this down quickly. Already this excursion proved to be immensely insightful. Humans had thoroughly catalogued and explored the wildlife around them, even the flora and fauna not immediately or obviously beneficial to them. It stood again in direct conflict with some of the most dearly held convictions parts of the Feria sciences had had for predator societies. He would have to explore if other hunters were similarly inclined in their knowledge and curiosity or if this was simply a quirk of Alexander’s.

The two continued on for a few more meters but then Alexander begged Madu to stop and pointed to the right of the road and up the trench that was running along the road. First Madu saw nothing, only more grasses and a lose array of trees but as he strained his focus onto where his Human companion was pointing, he saw that there was a small gap in the grass that had been been trampled down.

“A game crossing”, Alexander whispered and bowed over slightly only to point to a muddy patch on the side of the small trench where Madu could see odd indentations, “Boars. They come up the mountain, pass over the road here and take a turn to the left somewhere further up there and come around to where the hide is. These aren’t fresh though. Probably came through here a few days ago. I doubt we will see them today.”

only then Madu understood that the indentations where footprints. They indeed looked very distinct and so he quickly made a photo of them, amazed that the Human had not only spotted them but could also tell that they weren’t recent. He wondered if this game crossing had been the reason for the location of the hide but didn’t dare to ask as Alexander’s whispering had instilled the need for silence in him too, feeling as though he was a child currently trying to sneak by their parents.

They followed the road a few more meters down, Madu shooting photos on occasion to document his track, then eventually Alexander stopped and pointed up the slope past the road trench, which was more of an array of shallow miniature tarns, where a number of young conifers had formed a seemingly impenetrable border to the forest proper.

“Time to hop on Madu”, Alexander whispered and squatted down, beckoning his feathered companion onto his free shoulder. It took Madu a moment to figure the best way to accomplish this and then decided to simply do it by literally following his companions instructions, figuring it would make little difference to the big mammalian predator. Indeed Alexander seemed to have no issue with that approach whatsoever and easily rose to his full height again, beginning his ascend up the trench through the array of young conifers.

Alexander carefully bent the branches aside to make room for himself and his passenger and Madu had to squeeze by some of these branches wondering if this would maybe become an issue given that the forest had looked rather dense here only to see that just behind the first few trees someone had cut a clearway right through it by trimming the branches. Undoubtedly Alexander’s work and it wasn’t hard to figure why he had obscured the entry point as Madu imagined that his Human companion wanted to avoid every hiker climbing onto his hide. Madu still noted this down as a question for after they were finished here.

Luckily the forest quickly transitioned into an array of older trees which left them with amble room and no more branches to dodge at all, though Madu speculated that this too had been arranged by Alexander. He could clearly see the dead grey-brownish branches protruding from the trees all around them, just not along the path they took. A coincidence seemed unlikely to him, though there was something else that occupied his attention quickly: The silence.

Alexander moved with a rather disturbing lack of any noise through the underwood. Madu tilted his head and stretched his neck to get a better view of Alexander’s feet and he saw how the large predator carefully choose every step, avoiding branches and rolling his feet with fluid motions. He managed to capture some of this with his tablet camera but he couldn’t help feel uneasy that something this big could move with so little noise. He remembered what Alexander had told him about the range of his weapon and it made him shutter a bit. Even without a hide Humans would be perfectly able to get in range of almost anything this way. He had often deluded himself that he could surely avoid a Human if they decided to hunt him, but now he wasn’t quite so certain any more. He had never underestimated their intelligence but he understood now that he had never taken their practical skills and experience into account.

After a few more minutes of sneaking they reached the hide, a large wooden grey construct, about nine or maybe ten meters high on top of which a wooden cabin rested, almost cuddling itself into the tree line behind which a sizeable clearing lay. A simple wooden ladder led up to it onto which Alexander deftly went, starting their ascend to the cabin. Again Madu noted how not a single noise was made, almost defying all logic. A wood construct like this should surely creak under the weight of the Human, but it didn’t. Not even once. Madu didn’t have the time to consider if this was the result of careful maintenance or skill on part of Alexander since they had already reached the cabin into which Alexander now carefully climbed while Madu ducked his head a little as not to bump into the edge of the opening.

The cabin itself was very simple. Barely big enough to house two, maybe three Humans if they huddled together. It was open through gaps maybe one wooden board wide to all sides but the side with the opening with the ladder they had entered through. He noted that these gaps could be closed by boards which hang on two simple metal hinges below the openings and hooks which could latch into an eyelet over the openings. A simple but effective means to avoid side drafts on windy days which Madu knew from observation outposts he had been on before. In fact all of this was awfully reminiscent of the constructions biologists used to observe wildlife though he had never before realised the parallels with the purposes of hunting.

While Madu observed the new surrounding with great interest, wondering where they would perch, Alexander slowly and silently put down his backpack and put it his rifle in one of the corners of the cabin. He then grabbed a thick wood board that had been lodged in a different corner of the hide and carefully put it onto two wooden half beams that were part of the structural skeleton of the cabin creating a makeshift bench. Again a simple and practical solution. Indeed everything about this hide could be reduced to simple practical need. Nothing here was without a purpose, no unnecessary luxury, a simple means to a simple end.

Alexander carefully bent down, beckoning Madu to get onto the makeshift bench and so he did as silently as he could, making photos of everything while Alexander rummaged through his backpack and got two simple cushions out of it, placing one besides Madu and pointing to the other and then at Madu, catching the scientist by some surprise. It took a second then Madu understood that his Human companion was offering him the cushion to perch on. It was a surprisingly mindful gesture that Madu hadn’t expected whatsoever, but he signalled Alexander quickly that he wouldn’t need it. It made little difference to his feet and if anything perching on wood would be more natural to him than the cushions. Alexander simply nodded and put the cushion away again, got some simple black binoculars out which he placed beside the cushion reserved for him, grabbed his rifle again, slowly pressed down the security on the rifle, put it back into the corner opposite of the bench and finally took his place on the cushion binoculars now in hand.

Madu somewhat mirrored Alexander’s preparations, unhooking his much smaller bag from his harness, got his lens with it’s delicate metal construction from it and mounted it over his left eye causing some curious looks by Alexander to a bit of Madu’s discomfort. He had already noted that if Humans had one thing in common with his own kind than it was an almost incessant curiosity about anything and anyone. He decided it was better to address it quickly than being subjected to that concerning stare Humans had about them any longer.

“Helps me see things in the distance and will highlight wildlife for me if necessary. Also doubles as recording device”, Madu whispered as silently as he could and earned himself an understanding nod.

“I see. A bit more high tech than my good ol’ binoculars, but these do just fine for me”, Alexander replied with a silent chuckle, piquing Madu’s own curiosity. It indeed seemed like these binoculars were just that. A simple optical assist, quite heavy by the standards of a Feria he could tell, but probably not weighing much for a Human. If there was any higher technology integrated into it, he couldn’t see any signs of it. Same applied to the rifle and the entire hide. Everything was reduced to it’s reasonably needed functions. He knew Humans weren’t quite on the the same technological level as the rest of the galaxy but they were capable of interstellar travel and he doubted something like his lens would be beyond Human ability. At least in essence. He was certain they were able to at least make more sophisticated vision assists and weapons than Alexander had at hand here. Was this an economic choice? Or tradition? He had to ask.

“Say, why do you use these simple tools and not something more…modern?”

Alexander leaned back against the wood, not even looking at him and Madu thought there was a strange tension to the Human all of a sudden.

“Because I don’t want to. It would be frivolous. Shameful even. Some people use infra-red goggles and aiming assists. Silencers to dampen the sound of the shot, even have a bloody aim assist that adjusts the shot automatically. Can’t even miss with that any more. ‘Guaranteed success’ they say. Bloody murder and cowardice I say. If you can’t see it properly, don’t shoot at it. If you can’t aim yourself than look for a different hobby. These lunatics are just interested in killing something and the trophy. Nothing else. Just another eccentric thing to boast about for them. Don’t think they even gut the animals themselves. No. These guys don’t get their hands dirty.”

Alexander’s voice had never risen above a whisper in volume but the anger and agitation in it couldn’t be missed. Madu realised he had almost by mistake stumbled upon something close to Alexander’s heart and a conflict broiling among the hunters. The gnarly foreman of the regional forestry had insisted on going with Alexander first and maybe this was why.

Meanwhile Alexander had given a small sigh and turned his head down towards Madu.

“The animals live. They are real. They aren’t toys. I already have every advantage one could need with the little I have here. If I mess up, it’s my fault and I have to live with it. It gives the animals the small chance they deserve to have. This isn’t life or death for me. I won’t starve to death when I fail here. It’s for the animals though. For me only a bruised ego is at risk. That’s why it’s shameful. These hunters value their ego above the lives of the animals – and I will never respect them for it.”

Madu wasn’t sure if he could fully comprehend every emotion and thought Alexander had tried to express but they were fascinating. A predator whose ethics extended beyond not only himself but also beyond his own kind and applied them to his prey, even hampered his own hunting success by doing so. Was Alexander an exception? An oddball either in personality or his application of ethics? Or both? Was this a relic of a more traditionalistic maybe even ritualistic understanding of hunting? Whatever it was, it would be a fantastic point of comparison in his further research and could prove a valuable insight into the Human ethics and psychology. tbc.

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