The Token by Kevin Bird (the little red hen ebook .TXT) 📖

away from us. Their senses seemed to be dulled; and we were always able to get so close to them that by the time they recognized something was wrong, it was too late for them. However, caution was still wise.
Ahead of us we could see the unnatural barriers we now understood contained our prey, and we stopped to re-group. At this stage we had learned to go slowly and make sure of our moves before we made them so that the attack was quick and efficient, with no one hurt but the prey. One elder silently moved ahead into the shadows of a large tree overhanging the perimeter and peered into the enclosure at the animals inside. Our eyes, well adapted to seeing at nighttime, could easily see the elder sniffing at the night air and immediately we all saw, in our mind’s eye, his image of the sweet smell of food. After we had also seen, through his eyes, where the prey were and how they were dispersed, the elder came back to the group and led us through an area of large rocks, which must have been washed down the mountain in the last spring melt. This way we could not be seen by anything in the compound that might chance to look our way, though all of the prey seemed to be laying on the hard ground, contentedly asleep. From our position in the rocks, we looked for anything wrong, anything out of place. We smelled the air and the ground. Nothing told of any problems. The time was here.
One of the young, who had been instrumental in helping bring down a large animal the night before, was given the honor of leading the way this night. The image sent by the elder was that of a large dark animal seen asleep some distance from the main body of its fellows. If successful, the youngster’s ranking would increase and one day we would have a new elder in our group.
We all gave our silent respect as the youngster moved off strong and proud, but still understanding of the place held in our tight knit group. The youth moved towards a rock, tall as one of us, that lay on the opposite side of the barrier from our food. Climbing to the top of the rock quietly was not easy with such large claws, but it was done efficiently and the penned animals did not stir. We could sense each other’s tension and hear our heartbeats as we waited for the moment to be deemed right; only the youngster would make that decision. Our job was that of support after the initial move was made.
In a blur of motion, powerful back legs hurled the body of our comrade over the barrier and directly onto the back of the sleeping animal. Even though it was twice our size, we saw the image of the deathblow delivered smoothly and we followed after our friend to eat our fill.


Three

“Please, let’s have some order!” Blake shouted, trying to be heard over the raucous men sitting around the table. As they quieted down again he continued in his authoritative voice, “Right then, let me re-cap what I’ve written down, and you tell me if I’ve got it right.”
All the headmen from the co-operative had gathered in Jacob’s big birthing shed. At the height of the season, this shed could hold up to fifty of the large animals and their young. Now, holding only the twelve farmers sitting on bales of animal feed, the barn was an echoing cavern that only added to the eerie quality of their discussion.
“In the last two cycles, Jacob, you’ve lost two of your big blues and three big greens, right?” Jacob unhappily nodded his assent. “Before that, you lost about eight young blues and five young greens. We thought they were getting out of the fields themselves; but I think we now all agree something else has been going on. Seems to be getting worse, too.” Blake ran his finger down a sheet of paper he’d been taking notes on during the last hour’s meeting.
He continued, “Kai, you lost the same as Jacob except two less young blues. Right?”
“Yes, and I’m getting really concerned about meeting the Token this time around. What’re we going to do, Blake?” he replied, clearly shaken by the losses.
Blake was the assigned group leader for this cycle, and it fell to him to govern this meeting in such a fashion that order was kept, even as emotions rose. “I share your feelings, we’re all as concerned as you, Kai. Let me finish first then we’ll move on, OK?” He got the nod he expected. “Bart, three big blues and three green, five young blues and six green. Is that right?” He continued down his list confirming or amending his information until he had verification from all twelve farmers.
“Looks pretty bad, friends.” He looked down at his pad and in a few moments looked up and continued. “In the last three cycles we’ve lost a total of two hundred and seventeen animals of both colors and all sizes! That’s more than seventy per cycle. If this goes on for three more cycles, when our Token is due, we’ll be in big trouble. None of us want to see our children pressed into service, so let’s resolve this now. There’s no way to contact the Collectors, so it’s up to us!” He finished his statement by sitting down and spreading his arms wide, opening the floor of debate to anyone wanting to speak.

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This portion of the universe had been in a state of expansionist warfare for generations; and as outward growth had continued, support personnel had to keep up. Learning lessons from military commanders and the mistakes they made was always important, even if the events were centuries in the past. Those in command read history books from a thousand planets and a million cultures gleaning the do’s and don’ts of the martial arts, so as to be prepared for any situation or countermeasure put forth by the enemies. The lesson they had specifically taken to heart, as this present campaign had moved forward, was that from an obscure military leader named Napoleon Bonaparte.
On a small planet named Earth by the inhabitants who had eventually used it up and destroyed it, this General had experienced much success. He had created an empire that had expanded easily until he made two big mistakes in trying to take a city named Moscow. First, he had not understood the severity of his enemies’ winter weather and so his troops were not adequately prepared. Second, and most importantly, his army was so far into enemy territory that their supply line was stretched too thin to be effectively maintained and defended. His majestic army had been routed, not by superior troops, but by bad weather and a poor supply system. Here plans had been made to ensure this campaign would not experience the same problems.
As the war spread outwards, it became clear that an entirely new department had to be created to make sure that the men and machines fighting the war were kept fed and fueled correctly and regularly. No Napoleonic mistakes this time around. The Suppliers were formed from a mixture of traditional military quartermasters, bounty and trophy hunter organizations, and academics representing fields as diverse as biology, botany, geology, and metallurgy. The Collectors, who answered to the Suppliers, were made up of military transports, private shipping companies, and even some pirates who had earned their amnesty through their ability to get these large supply ships from place to place quickly and undetected.
The Suppliers found planets that were uninhabited by advanced life forms, away from the fighting and yet close enough that supplies could be ferried to the front quickly. If the planet was barren, a little terra-forming worked wonders. If there was already life found there, then decisions were quickly made as to what would have to be eliminated and what could stay. Since most planets were to be virtual monocultures, the vast majority were entirely cleared of their natural life and re-born in the image the Suppliers deemed most practical for their purposes. Feed the troops and fuel the engines; that was their mantra. The Collectors were charged with the task of making sure that the goods made it to the front in the prescribed time frame.
Some planets were just massive mines, producing the raw materials that were then shipped on to others that were covered in manufacturing facilities, turning out the finished goods of war. Others, like Jacob’s, had been set aside for the breeding and raising of the primary foodstuff of the soldiery, blues and greens. These animals had been genetically engineered thousands of years earlier to be the ideal food source for all people. The meat of these animals included all things necessary for a well-balanced and healthy diet. The blues had more of the proteins and oils found in meats and fishes while the greens, reasonably enough, carried within them the benefits of fruits and vegetables. Any soldier fed meat from these animals was on his way to great health, so the Suppliers created many farming planets.
The Suppliers and Collectors had been given a mandate to provide a certain amount of food and materials in certain amounts of time to keep the war effort moving smoothly. Those in command knew heads would roll if their own quota to the cause was not met. So, likewise, they had set quotas, or Tokens, for all those who answered to them on the mining, manufacturing and farming planets. Many of those working on these planets were doing so because they were either not willing or not able to go to war. Pacifists, criminals, scientists, those too old or too young, the disabled, they all created something for the cause, or suffered the consequences.
With war comes death, and one big problem for any army is to have enough soldiers to fight effectively. Therefore, each planet had to provide a certain amount of their finished goods within very clear time frames or people could become forfeit and would be pressed into service. Children and young adults were the favorite, since they could be apprenticed into any sector of the military machine and within a few years be a soldier or other expendable resource. If, however, it was felt the child had more promise then they might be more valuable to the war effort as a pilot or other important asset to the expansion. In the big picture though, one child here and there would not be as valuable as continued lines of supplies; so for everyone concerned, it was preferable that the Tokens be met.

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Many cycles before, none of the farmers could even guess how many, this planet, one of many habitable ones in the Teldar system, had been devoid of intelligent lifeforms, by accepted military standards anyway. A thriving and varied plant and animal population had been found when the first ships arrived, but things quickly changed for the better, or so felt the Suppliers. Any animal or plant life that the Suppliers deemed detrimental to the new role of the planet, that of providing food for those fighting this war, were summarily sought out and destroyed. From the air and from the land, the Suppliers swept the planet with poisons and weapons to ‘clean house.’ In only two cycles, they had, like many times before on other worlds, created the beginnings of a man-made environment designed to be solely a food producer. Thereafter, they had transported a large group of non-techs as farmers down to the planet to finish the transformation.
For generations, non-techs all over the known systems had