[Mkguild] Hunting for the Ice Age Part 7

[cokane8116 at aol.com]

    A twenty-minute trek soon brought them tothe village.     The village consisted of a half dozen hutsarraigned in a circle and surrounded by a fence made of wooden posts. In thecenter of the settlement a large fire burnt driving back the cold.    They were greeted at the gap in the fence bya dozen people all dressed in furs and animal skins. They seemed to be an evenmix of men and women. Some carried wooden spears with stone tips. Three werecarrying bows and all seemed to have a stone headed axe on their belt.    At the front of the group was a man who wasa little below normal height. He looked impressive none the less decked out inanimal skins and home spun. The spear in his hand was almost as tall as he was.    This is Brian Clark,” the leopard explained.“He is the senior paleontologist here.”    “A pleasure to meet you,” Jonathan said andwagged his tail.    “Why are you all here?” Jonathan asked. “Whya village?”    “It’s part of an experiment,” Brian answered.“To really experience what life was like back then.”    “What have you found out so far?”    “Lifeback then really sucked,” the woman commented dryly.    “Even something simple like staying warm anddry is a real effort,” the man explained. “I’m always cold in the winter.”    “And I’m never clean.”    “And even the most trivial injury can leadto serious problems,” the one man said. “Even a broken bone could be dangerous.It is physically impossible to stay clean. A compound fracture would almostcertainly become infected. Any injury could easily become infected and thatcould be fatal.”    “Most of our day is just taken up withfinding food,” the woman explained.    “And there is never enough,” the man added.“So far I’ve lost thirty pounds.”    “The thing I miss the most,” she said. “Imiss my family and friends. Being out of contact with them.”    The rest of the group nodded in agreement.“I mean there is only so much you can do over the phone.”    “The huts have thatched roofs and walls madeof wood of branches interwoven and covered with mud,” the woman explained.“It’s surprisingly watertight and does keep out the wind.”    “Does your cozy little village have a name?”Jonathan asked.    “We call it Gjormete,” came the answer.“It’s Norwegian for muddy.”    Jonathan looked around at the village andnoticed to mud everywhere. Around the central fire, between the huts and evensplattered all over everyone. His own paws were covered in it. The mucksquishing between his toes. “How appropriate.”    "And you have no idea how big of hardsome were fighting to name the town 'Bedrock', good thing clearer headsprevailed,” Brian commented.     "Yeah,by a single vote." Standing next to the scientist was a tall man dressedthe same as Brian. His skin color marked him as African American. To somepeople that mattered. But to Jonathan, who wasn’t even human at the moment,skin color seemed a trivial difference. I mean wolves paid no mind to the colorof their fur.    He smiled at the wolf. “I’m DarrellWilliamson. The resident medic and all-round master hunter.”    “Glad to meet you,” Jonathan raised hisright paw to handshake and realized doing that was not really feasible.    Darrell bent over and shook the extended pawwith all dignity. He smiled. “I’m happy to meet. I’m a big fan of the show.”    The wolf found himself looking up at theman. “I’m always glad to meet a fan.”    “Everyone is so tall,” Jonathan commented.    “As a wolf Jonathan this is a man you’d bestbe nice to,” The leopard said and pointed to a black man who was walking up tothe group. “This is Dr. Reuben Michuki. Veterinarian for the Kenya WildlifeService. He specializes in exotic species.”    “Every animal here is exotic,” Jonathanjoked. “But I am glad to meet you.”    “We met a few years ago,” the doctor added.“You were in Kenya filming.”    “That’s right!” Jonathan yipped and waggedhis tail. “We were doing a show on endangered species. It’s good to see youagain! How are you doing?”    The man smiled. “Very good. The family isdoing well. I managed to get time to come here.”    “What do you think of all this?” The wolfasked.    “It’s COLD,” Reuben responded and huggedhimself. “I miss the warmth of Africa.”    The wolf gave a yip of laughter. “So do I.But I seem to remember sweltering in the summer heat in Kenya and wishing itwas cooler.”    “Well,” the Doctor responded and laughed.“You got your wish.”    “I’ve got a question,” Jonathan asked. “Doyou really intend to hunt a mammoth?”    “Yes,” the doctor responded. “Stone agepeople seem to have done it routinely.”    “Let me get this straight,” Jonathan asked.“humans using weapons just like yours HUNTED and KILLED mammoth? How? I meanit’s like trying to destroy a tank with a cap pistol.”     “With the most dangerous weapon of all,”she tapped the side of her head. “Their brains.”    Jonathon nodded. “Takes a lot of courage togo after something the size of a bus with a few pointed sticks and some ideas.”    “Good ideas.”    “So what are these good ideas?” Jonathanasked.    “We’re going to use fire and noise to drivehim into the woods where he can’t charge or move around well,” The one wolfexplained. “Then we’ll ambush him.”    “We’ve dug a U-shaped ditch in the woods,”Darrell explained. “That should corral him in. He won’t have the room to turnaround.”    “Once trapped we’ll take him down as fast aspossible.”   Seated nearby was a black-haired woman wholooked to be in her twenty’s. Sabrina Andino was a third-year student ofarchaeology at the University of Madrid. After several weeks of the cold andsnow she was beginning to reconsider if this was worth all the credit she wouldearn.    Kristen walked over to the woman and satdown. “I have something for you.” Hanging from her neck was a canvas pouch. Usingone paw she pulled out something that looked like a small, orange pistol.    Sabrina took it from the leopard and foundit was plastic flare pistol of the type that was standard safety gear on mostboats. Attached loosely to the handle was a clip of four flare cartridges.    “This is going to be a tough hunt. If thingsgo bad,” the leopard explained. “Shoot a flare right at the mammoth’s head. Thenoise and bright light are sure to scare him off. No telling where he will goso be careful.”    She nodded her head. “I understand.” Shecarefully placed it in the canvas pouch she carried on her hip.  **************************     The place chosen for the ambush was fewmiles from the lodge. Where the trees crowded close to the trail. Right acrossthe trail was a ditch around twenty feet wide and five feet deep. At each endof the ditch was another one that ran parallel to the first. It created a U-shapedobstacle.    “We’ll use the humans riding on the horsesand elk,” Paul said. “They’ll use noise and fire to steer the mammoth towardsthe trap. Once he reaches the ditch he’ll hopefully stumble and fall or stop.The remaining people will shower him with spears and arrows. When he isweakened the predators will close in and finish it.”    “If things go wrong,” Kristen ordered. “Backoff. Find a nice, tall, thick tree to hide behind. There are plenty that arebig enough that he won’t be able to knock them over easily.”    Along the way they came upon a herd ofmammoths grazing peacefully on the bushes and trees. Some were using theirtrunks to push away the snow and reveal grass and lichen hidden there.    “Don’t get too close,” Alisha ordered. “Theytend to be mellow but only if we keep a respectful distance.”    He looked up at one of the Mammoths. Evenfrom a distance it was intimidating. The massive creature towered over him likea skyscraper. “No need to worry about that.”  "Ah. I forgot to bring along myhowitzer."    "Hunt THAT? I don’t even want to benear it!"    "You wanna eat? Then you hunt!"    "Couldn’t we just order out? I knowthis great Italian place in Bangor. They deliver."

**************** 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.integral.org/archives/mkguild/attachments/20210118/b9a85c2f/attachment-0001.html>