‘I don’t know. It’s never happened before, so we have nothing to go on. It can only be one of two things, a mechanical defence mechanism or some unheard of alien monster. I prefer the defence mechanism, myself.’
The Captain was thoughtful for a moment before saying,
‘Whatever our probe found, it is far removed from the site we will be using for the small people, and I’m sure they couldn’t get across the desert to reach the plateau, so I don’t think we have anything to worry about. Just make sure there’s nothing like that in the area we have chosen for them, they at least deserve a fair start.’
A second probe was sent down and the area around the chosen site was checked for any sing of the mystery ‘probe destroyer’, but there was no hint of any aggression towards the scouting probe.
The shuttle disgorged its payload, and the crew which had been sent to show how to build a defensive wall got to work.
The small people just looked on, whether they understood what was being shown to them was anyone’s guess, but the crew followed their orders to the letter, and did their best to demonstrate the art of stonewall building.
The caves were checked out for anything nasty which might have taken up residence therein, but all was well, and after a bit of pushing and shoving, the crew managed to get some of the small people to enter a cave and not rush out again in a blind panic.
By the time the shuttle had climbed back to the Great Ship, everyone was congratulating each other on a job well done, and a degree of genuine interest in the small people had developed.
It was the general intention to orbit around the planet for a while to see how its new incumbents managed, and then report back to base for new instructions.
After five ‘days’ of the planet’s time, and several deaths due to eating the wrong fruit, it seemed that the new locals had found out what they could eat safely, but at a price.
The team on board the Great Ship reported back to the Captain that all seemed well down below, and they prepared to leave the small people to their own devices, hoping that nature would now take care of her own.
A few rudimentary tools made by a kind engineer and left in the fond hope that some among the tribe would find a use for them, but it didn’t seem likely from the response the crew got when they presented their departing gifts.
After one final check to see that all was well, the Great Ship left its orbit around the planet, accelerated out of the solar system and headed out into deep space, its primary function completed.
The tribe had lost quite a few of their number before they finally found out which fruits, berries and pods they could eat safely, but having done so, set about organizing themselves into coherent working groups, continuing to build the defence wall and cleaning out enough of the caves to house them all.
Unfortunately, long ago, Moss, Kel and Jay hadn’t bothered to set up the Story Teller routine, too busy were they in propagating their numbers, and just having a good time.
There was now little of the tribe’s history being passed down, so they had no idea of how they had originated, or from whom. Only recent happenings were recalled with any clarity, and they didn’t seem to last very long.
Here was food aplenty for them to gather, and a supply of clean drinking water was found in a large rock cluster not far from their encampment, so their basic needs were fulfilled.
During the daylight hours, all was quiet and relatively peaceful, but the noises of the night set many a tooth on edge, and rumours were soon flying around as to what could be making such a din.
The night time screams did at least serve one useful purpose, it kept the tribe well within their compound during the nocturnal hours, as no one would dare to leave their haven and run the risk of adding to the hideous cacophony of sounds which often rent the hours of darkness.
Slowly the tribe’s numbers began to build up, until there was not really enough room for them all to find sleeping quarters in the caves, so some had to sleep outside in the open. This didn’t go down well after one of their number disappeared one night, and then someone remembered how the Giants who had brought them here had enlarged one of the caves by scraping at the walls with a long blade.
A blade was found among the artefacts left behind by the crew of the Great Ship, although it seemed a little smaller than the one used by the Giants.
Once the initial surface had been cut through after much effort, the softer lime and sandstone mix beneath gave easily to the hacking of the steel blade, and the newly cut surface later hardened due to the reaction with the atmosphere.
Once they had got the hang of it, cave enlargement went ahead at a great pace, and soon everyone had a retreat from the dreaded horrors of the night.
As the tribe’s numbers increased still further, a form of job allocation became apparent.
The largest of them becoming guards, armed with stones and the largest sticks they could find, to protect the smaller ones from any predators which they might encounter while food collecting or going to the water pool in the rocks.
So far, no one had actually seen anything of the night beasts, but they knew they existed and were taking no chances.
It was a pity that the skills of the original three hadn’t been passed on down through the generations, and a series of Story Tellers set up, but nature, for want of a better word, had a way of correcting things, no matter how badly man
