Heirs of avalon, p.12
Heirs of Avalon, page 12
Socially, Barsoom* enjoys a renaissance lifestyle. It was colonized by groups of people who wanted to recreate a renaissance culture but retain their technology. Colony organizers spent months sending through anything they thought they might need. Education level is high, main industries are researching and creating tiny robots called nanites which can be programmed for various medical, scientific instruments and weapons. farming, fishing, merchants, mining, but since they love their high-tech gadgets, they also import many small circuits to make them with.
Since Barsoom employs Robots for many menial tasks, it doesn't have a 'noble' class system, but instead utilizes a more modern egalitarian way of classifying its population.
A native of Barsoom should posses the qualities of good character, grace, and talents.
A native of Barsoom should should be learned and should practice certain physical and military exercises.
A native of Barsoom should have a classical education and should be able to play and instrument or be a proficient artist.
As mentioned before, Barsoom allows dueling. This is a highly stylized and organized method of settling individual disputes.
CODE DUELLO
Code Duello is a set of rules for a one-on-one combat, or duel. Code duello regulates dueling and thus helps prevent vendettas between families and other social factions. The code ensures a non-violent means of reaching an agreement, so harm be reduced, both by limiting the terms of engagement and by providing medical care. Finally, Code Duello ensures the proceedings have several witnesses. The witnesses are there to assure grieving members of factions of the fairness of the duel and provide testimony if legal authorities become involved.
A morally acceptable duel would start with the challenger issuing a traditional, public, personal grievance, based on an insult, directly to the single person who offended the challenger.
The challenged person had the choice of a public apology, other restitution or choosing the weapons for the duel. The challenger would then propose a place for the "field of honor". In the Capital city of Barsoom a field has been designated specifically for dueling. For a duel to be legal, participants must use this location which provides a judge to decide if the duel has been fair. The Dueling field also has rotating doctors on call to attend each duel.
Each side would have at least one second; two was the traditional number.
If one party failed to appear, he was considered a coward and the appearing party would win by default. The seconds (and sometimes the doctor) would bear witness to the cowardice. The resulting reputation for cowardice would often considerably affect the individual’s standing in society, perhaps even extending to their family also.
The opponents agreed to duel to an agreed condition, either First Blood, Death or until either party was no longer able to fight, or the physician called a halt.
When the condition was achieved, the matter was considered settled with the winner proving his point and the loser keeping his reputation for courage.
ANIMALS
LINT DRAGON: A small, warm blooded, four-legged winged mammal. It is covered in fine fur and resembles a floating ball of rainbow-colored lint. It is omnivorous with a diet consisting of berries, nuts, small insects, and grubs. Normally found in family groups consisting of several females and males of various ages and ranks and their fledglings. One dominant pair rules the others. some family groups will band with others to form a herd with one supreme pair who rules. Because of their small size (about the size of a hamster) they have few offensive weapons, but they do possess a painful sting. When a flock acts in unison to drive off a predator, their combined sting can cause injury or even death depending on the size of the predator. They can form a flock bond with a human, but only if they are socialized when they are young.
CATAMOUNT: small native mammal adopted by colonists as pets. It's about the size of a Guinea pig. It looks hairless, but the hair is so fine it's transparent. It has large, bat-like ears, big eyes which change in the dark. Hunts both during the day and at night. It is Omnivorous with a diet of fish, crustations, berries nuts and occasional insects. Likes water, usually found singly or in small family groups. Adolescents move on when they reach maturity. Can be fierce in defense of its clan.
PLANTS
All flora on this world has an aggressive growth pattern but so far, none of it has proven actively dangerous to humans. It is fast growing and will quickly take over a field of crops if not kept under quick control. This is mostly done with robots, although the Barsoomians are quite interested in genetically altering plant species imported from earth to be strong enough to hold their own with native flora.
*The name Barsoom which is used as the name of a colony in these books, BARSOOM(R) is a registered trademark of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. And Used by Permission.
The Outlawed Colonies series is a shoot off from the Forbidden Colony series. Each book is set on a different Colony reached through the same Portal serving St. Antoni. The colonies all have different social and cultural values. Forbidden to exist by Earth’s Governments and the Industrial Giants who control the Portals, they manage to thrive under the noses of those agencies...
Learn More about the Forbidden Outlaw Colonies by following this link.
https://gaildaley.com/St-Antoni.php
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A writer of Fantasy and Science Fiction stories, Gail has received high praise for her beautifully interlaced, imaginative worlds. She populates her universes with vital and interesting characters, skillfully intertwining their everyday lives with world changing events.
An omnivorous reader, she was inspired by her son, also a writer, to finish some of the incomplete novels she had begun over the years. She is heavily involved in local art groups and fills her time reading, writing, painting in acrylics, and spending time with her husband of 46 plus years.
Gail has a background in business and used this expertise to develop a series of pamphlets (lumped together under the title “The Modern Artist’s Handbook) advising artists and authors about how to improve their bottom line by applying business practices to the development and sale of their work.
Currently her family is owned by two cats, a mischievous young cat called Mab (after the fairy queen of air and darkness) and a mellow Gray Princess named Moonstone. In the past, the family shared their home with many dogs, cats, and a Guinea Pig, all of whom have passed over the rainbow bridge. A recent major surgery on her stomach, a bout with breast cancer, and arthritis in her hands have slowed her down a little, but she continues to write and paint.
www.gaildaley.com
A NOTE FROM GAIL
Thank you for reading this book. While each book was designed to be read without having read the prior volumes, Characters from prior books do appear in each story. This is the first book in the Outlaw Colony Series; The story will continue with a four more books.
I often get asked why I write. The answer is simple. I write books I personally would like to read. While it's always a joy to find other readers who enjoy the stories I do, I'm aware my brand of writing won't please everyone. Please, write to me anyway. I'd love to hear from you. Gail@gaildaley.com
Honest reviews are critical to all authors, but especially critical to Indie authors like myself, so please take a few minutes to tell me what you think of my work. It would be much appreciated if you write a review and share it on the site where you purchased it. Reviews don't have to be long and analytical. Just say what you think as though chatting with a friend. On behalf of all Indie writers and publishers PLEASE, ALWAYS WRITE A REVIEW for any book you read or audiobook you listen to.
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BONUS: EXCERPT FROM APEX PREDATOR
APEX
PREDATOR
THE OUTLAWED COLONIES 3
GAIL DALEY
COPYRIGHT
APEX PREDATOR Copyright © 2022 by Gail Daley dba Gail Daley's Fine Art
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
E-BOOK ISBN: 978-1-68564-017-0
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HB ISBN 978-1-68489-198-6
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Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to any persons living or dead is unintentional and accidental.
Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.
Book The Apex Predator Gail Daley—1st ed. Copyright © 2022 by Gail Daley dba Gail Daley's Fine Art
Cover Art Copyright © 2022 by Gail Daley dba Gail Daley's Fine Art
ABOUT THIS BOOK
The first world discovered by the Laughing Mountain Scientists was a doozy. A fitting match for Homo Sapiens—the deadliest predator of all time—maybe.
If the native animals here don't get you, the plants just might.
Life is hard on the outlaw colony of Lemuria. Some days it's a struggle to stay alive. The plants and animals are huge and deadly. Homo Sapiens are apex predators, but they may have met their match on this planet.
Zach Tylor is young, tough, and broke. He needs the money, so despite his better judgement, he agrees to guide a group of researchers to a mysterious structure the colonists called the Halivaara Wheel. During the trip, he uncovers a dangerous conspiracy that threatens not only his home planet, but all the Outlawed Colonies.
HUNTING VARMITS
A WHUFFLING snort in his ear woke Zach Tylor from a sound sleep. He turned his head to find a pig-like snout about an inch from his nose. The snout belonged to Lucy, his semi-guard pet. The scientific name for Lucy's species was Lupinus Leo. Colonists referred to them as Banded Koodoo. Zach just called her Lucy. Lucy’s DNA said she had both feline and canine characteristics; she had the retractable claws and night vision of a cat and the devotion and loyalty of a dog. She stood eighteen inches high at the shoulders and weighed about sixty pounds, with coarse, oily, red fur, broken by horizontal yellow stripes along her back and tail. She had short, pricked ears and large dark eyes. Spines made of the same substance as her claws ran up and down her spine as a predator defense. Her tail, wide at the base, narrowed to a barbed ball at the end.
She was regarding him with the alert attention that told him she wanted a human to fix what was wrong. The ambient light in the room told Zach it was about an hour before dawn. It was too early for his brood of Sun Risers, the large fluffy birds he kept for their meat, eggs, and feathers, to be awake unless something was bothering them. Since he didn’t hear the restless clucking signaling they were alarmed, he decided whatever had prompted Lucy to wake him wasn’t bothering the Sun Risers.
He slid out of bed, wincing when his bare feet hit the icy floor. The stone left by the aliens who had built his house was smooth, but it was also cold. He pulled on his leather pants and shoved his feet into his high-topped boots. The shirt was from the night before, but he had only worn it two days, so he considered it clean enough to hunt varmints.
Grabbing his night-vision enabled helmet and his pulse rifle, he stepped outside into the inner Bailey inside the high walls made of iridescent stone left by the Aliens enclosing his garden. The area had no roof, but the walls were tall enough to keep out most of Lemuria’s larger predators and wandering herbivore herds. Generally, the walls kept his vegetable garden and the bird coop safe from predators. He had built a fence with access to his Elfs and Raffe corrals and sheds on one end of the Bailey. The exterior corrals also had high walls, but the end open to the valley was edged with a more modern contrivance—a shock fence.
Elfs were draft animals, as large as earthly elephants, with long wooly coats that could be sheared and woven into cloth. Both bulls and cows possessed sharp tusks which usually provided all the protection a herd needed. Like the elephants they had been nicknamed after, they also had a long prehensile trunk with long fingery appendages on the end. It served as a nose and occasionally a hand. Their wide ears hung from the tops of their heads and helped protect their eyes and faces.
The Raffe’s were riding animals; tall, spindly legged critters with triangle shaped heads set on their long necks, a smooth, straight back that would hold a saddle if it was fastened on with chest and rump straps in addition to the cinch.
Both herds were quiet, although the Raffes were restless, but they always were. He glanced at Lucy. She was staring at the garden.
Zach stopped and stood still about thirty yards from his garden. Even with the night-vision visor, it required concentration to distinguish shapes. Lucy whined and his hand dropped to her head, a signal to be quiet.
It was more of those bloody Coney Rats. The Coney Rats were the scourge of Lemuria’s farmers. They ran in large family groups and could clear a crop field in a few hours. Smaller than Lucy, the Coney Rats were no match for her individually, but in a horde, they could beat her senseless. They weren't actually rats, being genetically closer to earthly rabbits. The Coneys had excellent tasting meat, and a strong, thick skin, covered in long fluffy hair which could be scraped and woven into light cloth suitable for summer clothing.
He took aim with his rifle and downed six of the invaders before they realized he was shooting at them. He got six more as the horde leaped for the fence to escape. Their powerful back legs easily allowing them to jump to the top. He got several more as the horde went over the high wall in a wave. The rising sun hitting the top of the wall silhouetted the rodents, making them easy targets.
By the time Zach had collected his bounty, ensured any survivors passed into the ether, and hung the carcasses in his butcher shed under stasis to keep until he had time to deal with processing the meat, the Sun Risers were griping to be let out and fed.
He opened the coop, and a dozen or so of the balls of fiery colored fluff bounced out. The sheer mass of the Ball of bright feathers on each bird not only made excellent decorative items, but their feathers also made it hard for predators to tell where their plumages ended, and the bird's body began. Unwary predators often came up with a mouthful of fluff instead of a piece of bird anatomy.
Zach scattered some cracked corn for them and went to turn off the shock fence so the Raffes and Elfs could graze in the area just outside the compound.
He was looking forward to eating breakfast when the com link chimed. Hastily running his fingers through his tangled mane of dark hair, he answered it.
The woman on the other end was Terella van Horn. Among other things, the van Horn’s handled the insertion of new-commers into Lemurian society and had been instrumental in stopping the revolt that nearly captured the portal last year. The van Horns, like Zach’s family the Tylor's, were one of Lemuria’s Founding Families. Although Lemuria was the first world the town of Laughing Mountain discovered able to support human life, it had been a hard sell until the Alien Ruins had been found. On earth there existed a group of people who believed Aliens had visited earth in the distant past, but they hadn't found much actual evidence to prove it. Laughing Mountain was willing to sell access to Lemuria if the proposed colonists were willing to never attempt to publish their findings on earth. If Earth's Portal Authority had discovered the existence of a gate leading to an unauthorized world, it would have destroyed the colony and the town which ran the illegal Portal, so the terms of the sale had included a non-disclosure clause.
Although not as well financed as the planned colonies of Barsoom, Arcadia, and Shangri-La, the Founding Families who made up the first two hundred Lemurian colonists were an organized group of historians and scientists who pooled their money to purchase farming, mining, and communication equipment to send through the Portal. They also invested in seeds for crops and weapons for defense against the large animals already inhabiting the planet.
To survive Lemuria's predatory plants and animals, the Founding Families realized they needed to learn to work together fusing their interests to become a community. Since the first arrivals, other colonists had trickled through the Portal, and the original society had become somewhat fractured, but the laws and government created by those first families had held up well.
Terella was a few years younger than Zach. She always presented the fresh, button-downed picture of a sophisticated academic. Her white-blond hair was drawn back in a neat twist, showing off her fine-boned face with its generous, wide lipped mouth and dark grey eyes. Today she wore a pale pink blouse, demurely buttoned up to her slim neck and a pair of dark grey trousers. For some reason that prim air attracted Zach; he always had the urge to grab her and physically mess it up.
