Princess Rescue Inc (85 page)

“Looks
like it's not just the Duluths that will be surprised,” Ryans snorted. He shook
his head. “I think we need to get the animals used to loud noises. Condition
them like we did with horses and traffic noises. Maybe a playback or
something?”

“I'll
look into it,” Perry said waving as he left.

<==={}------------>

The
biologist Nate was disappointed they hadn't run into new animals. He complained
at breakfast that he had sampled everything in town and had worked through the
backlog of materials. Charlie and Wanda both snorted in amusement. “Speak for
yourself. The tissue samples are going to take years to process you know,”
Charlie growled. Nate was a pain in the ass, demanding she focus on that and
not on the war and other projects. Ryans had finally had to be called in on it
to mediate. He'd come down on Nate, reminding him that the samples could wait.
Nate had been a sullen pain in the ass for a week afterward.

Nate
sighed. “Be that as it may, we've got a couple more months to a year here; it
behooves us to stick to our primary mission. To gather data.” He gave Ryans an
imploring look. “We've only just scratched the surface on the biota here.”

“I've
had the jockeys run every one of their creatures on that race track. I've got
plenty of film from different angles so we can do studies on behavior and body
mechanics later,” Nate said and then smiled. “But it's only the creatures
here.” He shrugged.

Ryans
nodded. Deidra came in and gave him a peck on the cheek. Nate and the others
greeted her warmly. She smiled politely, looking around the group as she took
her seat next to Ryans. Wanda gave Nate a look and then asked Deidra if they
had a zoo or local preserve... or book on animal wildlife. She shook her head
then asked if they had seen her father's den and study. Nate was instantly confused.

“What
does that have to do with it?” he asked wrinkling his nose.

Wanda
smiled. “I bet you'll be surprised Nate, we'll check it out princess. As long
as Nate here doesn't do any damage,” she cautioned giving the biologist a
warning look. Nate frowned.

After
breakfast they all trekked to the den. The walls and furniture were covered in
animals, heads, furs, scales, skeletons, horns... and paintings of kills. Nate
was ecstatic, a real kid in a candy store. He took samples and images, then
measurements and laser scans.

Wanda
was intrigued by a skull. She commented about its shape. Deidra told her it was
from a
wyvern
. The animal had a streamlined body, six limbs and was
poisonous. She warned them to be careful of the fangs.

Carefully
Nate checked it out. The skull was a recent addition. Deidra told him how the
taxidermist in town had created hinges for the teeth and fangs out of gold.
Nate picked it up and the jaw opened. “Like a snake,” he murmured, seeing the
teeth articulate. He fingered one.  “This is from that recent dragon
mess?” he asked. Ryans nodded.

“Careful!”
Deidra cautioned making the others look up. She pointed out that the front
fangs were poisonous. Nate looked, running a rubber tipped glove over the side.
He carefully turned the head over and aha-ed thoughtfully.

“Hypodermic.
It's like a snake. And the jaw articulates in two places so it can dislocate to
swallow large meals. Odd. Why would a flying reptile want to eat so much?
Wouldn't it be too heavy to fly?” he mused, rubbing his chin.

Deidra
nodded. “But the
wyvern
has to, it doesn't have the teeth to chew,” Nate
murmured.

“Perhaps
it bolts its food to keep it from getting scavenged by others,” Ryans
suggested. “They're normally scavengers.”

Nate
harrumphed in annoyance. “There are those smaller scavengers. We need more data
for comparison.”

“It's
just a suggestion Doc,” Ryans chuckled. “You going to be okay in here Nate?”

The
biologist nodded. “Oh just ducky.”

Doc
giggled. “I think he means damn skippy.”

Ryans
shook his head, lips puckering in a smile. “All right then, if you'll excuse
me, we've got a campaign to finish,” he said firmly. He nodded to the princess
who nodded back, suddenly serious. “Oh and Nate...” The biologist looked up but
his eyes were unfocused. “Nate remember this...” He flicked his fingers to the
room. “Belongs to someone else so be as
nondestructive
as ever. Got it?”
The biologist sighed then nodded. “Consider it a sampling of what's out there
Doc, a preview of what's to come,” Ryans said, trying to sound encouraging to
him. The doctor nodded again, enthusiasm returning.

<==={}------------>

“I'm
curious about your religion, and your world view princess,” Sue said as she
folded a blanket. The princess looked up from the paper she was reading.

“I
don't know what you mean. Religion?” she asked looking over to her sister Zara,
and then to her mother the Queen.

“Well,
medieval societies were strictly religious, most western European societies
were catholic,” Sue replied sitting in a deep arm chair and crossing her legs.

“We
have... many people’s here. From many places from Patria... I believe you call
it Earth?” the Queen asked hesitantly. Sue nodded. “Ages ago, when our
ancestors came through the vortex we were mixed together. Our ancestors had to
work together to survive the creatures here,” she waved. Sue nodded again, this
time thoughtfully.

“Yes,
I noticed there aren't many Terran animals, some cattle, a few horses and dogs,
but no cats, or goats... or sheep.” She ran a hand over the blanket. “If this
is some sort of wool where does it come from?”

“From
the back of a
shek'nar
beast,” Zara answered. “Everyone knows that.” She
gave the doctor a smile. “You have them on Earth right?”

Sue
shook her head. “Actually no, which brings up my other point. You know you're
on another world right?” All three women nodded. “And you know this world isn't
flat it's a sphere?” she asked. Blank looks answered that. Slowly Zara nodded.
She remembered the lecture Ryans had given them and the astronomers a month
ago. Sue sighed and then picked up a ball of yarn.

“See
each world is round like a ball. Even the sun is round right? You see it in the
sky,” Sue explained. They nodded at this. “Now each planet spins.” She spun the
ball of yarn. “And when it does you have day...and night.” She held the ball up
to the window. “See the side facing the sun has a day, while this side.” She
pointed to the back side in shadow. “Has a night.” She looked up to them to see
if they got it.

Zara
looked intrigued; she took the ball of yarn and tried to rotate it slowly. “I
see! This is what Ryans was talking about with the astronomers!” she said and
then smiled. Sue chuckled.

“Right.
Now, Earth has only the one moon. You've got three small moons and then there
is the gas giant.” She picked up another ball. “Your world is what we call a
dwarf planet. It's technically a moon of the gas giant. But since it is nearly
as large as Earth we'll stick with planet.” She noted her audience was
patiently trying to grasp what she was saying. She cleared her throat. “Now,
Your world rotates around the gas giant. Each of your tiny moons orbits around
this world.” She used her fingers to describe the orbit around the sphere.
“They cause the tides to come in and out, and the some of the weather to
change.”

The
Queen slowly nodded. “Are they the same size as our world? Our suns are quite
small how can that be?” she asked.

Sue
shook her head. “It's an illusion. When something is far from you it looks tiny
right?” She pointed out the window to distant figures. “But up close they're
larger. It's the same with the sun. The sun is large. Very large. But it is
far, far away. The moons however are closer so look much bigger.”

Deidra
nodded. “Ryans used that very thing to explain it to us,” she replied. She
glanced to her sister. “I have heard you walked on the moon? On Earth's moon?”
she asked tentatively. The Queen looked astonished.

“Oh
not me personally,” Sue chuckled sitting back. The others relaxed. “But yes, my
people did go to the moon years ago. We've built craft that can travel into the
void between worlds.” Each of the royal family’s eyes were wide at that
outlandish idea. Sue pulled up her laptop and typed for a minute.

“See,
we've built rockets. Not the ones you've seen the army using, these are much,
much larger.” She used her hands to indicate the room and then pointed to a
tower outside the window. “They have liquid fuel and propel men in metal ships
into space. About, oh, fifty years ago we sent a team of men to Earth's moon.”
She smiled as she found the file in the network and downloaded it.

“Here
see?” She turned the laptop so they could see it easier. The video played,
showing a Saturn five rocket taking off, then clips of the Eagle landing and
the astronauts on the moon. Zara came closer, kneeling in front of the laptop,
then when her mother grunted, moving to one side so the others could see.

“Tis
a wondrous thing,” Zara breathed, eyes round once more.

“Careful
sister or your face will freeze like that,” Deidra teased, smiling.

“Oh
to be in such a world!” Zara smiled.

“But
the risk...” the Queen murmured. “The expense,” she said. She shook her head.
“What came of it?” she asked suddenly intent.

“Well,
prestige for one. There was a race between many of the nations to see who could
get there first. Also a great deal of science was learned. Information that has
affected how we think of planets and our moon,” Sue shrugged.

“Also
a cornucopia of technology,” a voice said from the entryway. The women looked
up to see Ryans smiling from the doorway. “We had to invent many things to do
that, and a lot of people were employed looking for new things, or making
them,” he explained. He shrugged. “A lot of fields were affected by it.
Medicine, weather prediction, material sciences, safety, electronics, and so
on.” He shrugged.

“It
also inspired people. People looked up into the night sky or watched in awe
like Zara did and thought of about what they themselves could do. Children
wanted to become astronauts, or as they grew up later, other careers. It opened
their eyes to their own potential. If we can do this...” he smiled. “Then we
can do anything.” He cocked his head at Sue who nodded.

“I
see your point,” the Queen nodded sagely.

“Does
it ever end?” Zara asked, eyes wide.

“I
hope not. Learning new things, exploring, building, improving ourselves and the
lives of our children... No, something like that should never end,” Sue said
softly, smiling.

Ryans
nodded. “Which,” he said smiling as the ladies looked to him. “Is why we came
to your world. To learn, explore, and then bring back such knowledge to our
people to inspire the next generation and beyond.”

“Ah,”
Deidra said. She looked troubled though. She glanced at her mother. The Queen's
eyes flitted to the laptop and then away.

<==={}------------>

“Ah,
Mister Ryans do you have a moment?” Nate asked. Ryans looked up from the papers
he was studying. He smiled. He was actually surprised that Nate had come up for
air so soon. He'd only been in the den one day.

“Finally
got your head out of the taxidermy den Nate?” he teased, watching the British
naturalist grin.

“For
the moment, I wanted to share with someone some of my discoveries.” He seemed
excited, but then something tempered that. “That is if you’re not too busy. I
don't mean to interrupt.”

“Interruption
is a good thing in this case. I'm going stir crazy trying to read reports,”
Ryans said in disgust. He tossed the papers aside then took a sip from a nearby
glass. “Lay on Mcduff.”

“Okay,
I've got a better look at the sociological changes that the inclusion of native
species have wrought on the peoples here.” He shrugged pulling out his laptop.
“In essence they have domesticated many of the native species to fill niches
that would have been taken by equivalent Terran species on Earth.”

Ryans
tried hard not to roll his eyes as Nate stated the obvious. He knew the
biologist was laying a foundation so didn't say anything. Nate tapped for a
moment at his laptop and then showed Ryans an image. Ryans looked closely, then
pulled out his tablet and linked it to the laptop and downloaded the files.

“Okay
what am I looking at? I take it everything here evolved with the hexapod
arrangement?” he asked. He looked up. “So this is a native equivalent?”

Nate
nodded. “Exactly so, this is their equivalent of a canid, a dog. They call it a
dog lizard for some reason.” He shrugged.

“I've
seen them in town I believe, also in the castle. They look like six legged
komodo dragons Nate. Our boys are running into the mastiff version in combat,”
he said.

“Ah,
but they weren't always that size. Behold,” Nate said and typed again. “The
original species was stockier and quite a bit larger. The people here have used
selective breeding to make a leaner, more active creature. One that they use
for a whole host of purposes. Physical labor, hunting, and even war.” He played
a slide show of the animals in various activities. Ryans froze the image at the
war beast. He'd got the reports but hadn't had any video or images to go with
them. Now he did.