Cutlass Sharpened (13 page)

“
You don’t like lavender?
You do not like smelling like a flower?” Jessica teased.

Politely he said “No thank you. I do not like
removing one odor and exchanging it for another. It smells nicer on
Renee, not me thought I do not know why it is different.”

Jessica shrugged and they were leaving.
“Girls like smelling flowery or like fruits. I like apple and
Stephanie is partial to cinnamon.”

“
I’d rather smell like food
than a flower.” Stephanie commented absently. “Men like spicy
smells usually, but since you’re likely a Hunter… Stone, Deegen and
Steven wash with unscented soap too. They don’t want their prey to
smell them.”

“
Don’t worry. When we get to
Stephanie’s office I’ll show you how to find what soap you’ll
prefer to lather up with. Oliver, why are you walking like that?”
she suddenly noticed now that they traveled the halls. He walked
with great caution, but not falling behind.

“
I’ll hit the ceiling if I
do any more than this. It is not easy for me.”

“
Lower gravity is normal
around the ship. I’m sorry, but this is about all I can handle
until I save enough money to have a Splicer make it so I can live
on stronger gravitational fields. I was born in space a hundred and
thirteen years ago and have been too busy to live on-world. Soon
I’ll have enough saved.”

“
What would happen if you
did increase gravity?” he asked.

“
All the blood in my body
would drop to my feet and my heart would not be strong enough to
pump it back up into my brain. It would kill me. But I’d go
unconscious first. When Stephanie told you she was fragile, I’m
even more.”

“
Is there any other way to
do it? And what are Splicers?”

“
I could gradually adapt,
but it would take me a decade and a lot of pain. Splicers can alter
my genetic makeup and trick my cells into adjusting to heavy planet
survivability within a few days. Increase the strength of my heart
to pull from my feet and increase muscles in my legs. They can do
many other things if you got the credits. You’ll learn soon enough.
Renee and Stephanie were born on worlds with a heavy gravity four
times where our race evolved on Earth. The best Hunters live on
planets with four, five or six times Old Earth gravity.”

“
I grew on a six gee
planet.” Said a deep voice up ahead.

“
Stone! What a pleasant
surprise.” Jessica greeted the Hunter still in beaten armor that
had been recently cleaned up nicely from a bit of
charring.

“
Good morning Mrs. Menann
and Mrs. Menann and Sparky.” He replied taking a critical look at
the transformation of the man between them. “Ms. Dorgen sure filled
you out, Brother.”

“
Brother? But we are not
related, Stone.”

“
Only a fellow Hunter could
have done as you. You saved my ass and we are in the same
brotherhood. Calling you my brother is an honor.”

“
But I didn’t save your ass,
Stone. I saved your entire body.”

Few had ever heard the man
laugh. This was one of those times as his onyx skin split into a
wide smile a moment before a deep masculine belly laugh boomed out
of the massive Hunter. “Brother, hasn’t anyone taught you men are
also called an ass? Saving my ass
is
saving me.”

“
He has yet to understand
all the nuances of our language, Stone. We are actually going to my
study to address that very situation.”

“
Then my arrival is most
fortunate.” He reached behind his broad hatchet and down into a
sealed pocket of the armor. He then grabbed hold of an object and
took it out. A sharp orange spike four centimeters long was
threaded through a leather string. “This is for you,
Brother.”

Oliver’s curiosity got the better of him and
he took it to examine. He then sniffed and licked it to say “This
was part of the Salamander I killed.” He said with absolute
certainty.

“
It is. I cut off a spike
from its leg before running into my fighter. In my village it is
custom that we keep a small piece of the first Beast we slay.”
Stone hooked a thumb underneath a hidden string and showed a
similarly shaped piece of ivory with a violet hue. “My first kill
was against a tunneling Viper that did devour me, but I cut my way
out as its many fangs just missed delivering a potent venom. Only
five Hunters’ first kills as a youth can claim to have slain a
Beast more deadly than a full grown Salamander. It reminds us of
where we began so we stay grounded.”

“
Thank you, Stone.” Oliver
took Sparky’s silent advice and slid it over his head.

“
It is I who came to say
thank you and to pay honor. You will do the same for any Hunter
that does the same for you, Brother. It is our way…”

“
Spit it out, Stone. I can
see you want something.” Jessica read his uncomfortable body
language.

Stone only confirmed it as
he unconsciously rubbed his shiny bald head. “For two days have I
struggled with my brothers on what to do with Oliver. Ms. Dorgen
prohibited any visitation unless medically relevant, but Hunter law
states Oliver must be seen by the Hunter Elders… especially since
we saw him seek the Salamander’s brain before its meat. He must be
ordained and taught our ways… our ways have no room to compromise
in finding a lost Hunter. The only benefit that I am not detaining
him right now is he is
not
a registered rogue. I checked.”

“
Right now it is out of the
question.” Stephanie said with as much tact as she could muster.
“Archeological discovery trumps Hunter law until all necessary
facets are catalogued in triplicate. I will make a compromise with
you though.”

“
I’m listening.” This calmed
his hidden rage. The only one to noticed was Oliver and Stone saw
how he started reaching for the sword at his hip. Oliver relaxed as
Stone did and it only confirmed the experienced Hunter’s instinct
he needed to be trained in discipline immediately.

“
Oliver’s existence is
nothing short of the find since the Geo Record in my opinion. I
will allow you to
observe
and come to your own understanding without
influencing what I’ve witnessed thus far. He needs to first learn
as all children in math, science and history. While he learns, I’m
going to be researching everything I can about his original gear,
which I might add is all currently on him. The other two conditions
you must swear by is the Hunter peoples do not share our research
as they will demand it as soon as they see him. And the last is for
his own well being to not threaten him in any way till he can fully
comprehend his actions. As soon as he is mentally capable of
interacting in a civilized society he is to remain onboard the
Drogenox and blind to the empire and Hunters alike. When he is
ready, then you may speak with him.”

“
I’ll agree on the amendment
my other brothers
and
I get full disclosure on everything thus far and they can sit
in with me.”

Stephanie looked up, thinking about what
space she had added with four well above average sized men and a
Drake to say “Alright, but I’ll need some muscle on rearranging my
office to fit everyone.”

“
Muscle I got. Thank you
Mrs. Merann.” He tapped his com. “Deegen, Steven, meet me outside
the archeology room.”

Along the way down the hall Jessica brought
up a map of the Dorgenox once stepping inside an egg-shaped
elevator and he memorized it in the time they rode up a single
floor. The Dorenox had ten floors, crew rooms numbering four
hundred and fifty though only two hundred and thirteen were
occupied by a crew of four hundred and sixty two, Oliver now
included. Each person had a role and function aboard the starship.
No freeloaders. Only the Hunters were hired on for free since the
Dorgenox often strayed outside empire space.

As they stepped off they spent ten more
minutes in relative silence walking down the hall till spotting two
Hunters lounging against the wall chattering amongst themselves. It
came to an end as the group was spotted.

Stephanie’s presence opened the room to her
private study, filled with rare and ancient artifacts both domestic
and alien in origin. The room was four times larger than Oliver’s
spacious bedroom, he noticed, but was more packed. Only one table
with many specialized instruments lay empty-ish. It was where she
likely worked on his items for two days with little rest. Every
object had some sticker with a number only she would know exactly
how to bring up the information.

She began directing the men, Oliver too, on
how to best rearrange the room to maximize what space was
available. She made sure nothing broke. It would be far from
cramped, but not by too much. Extra chairs were ordered and sat in
a corner where Sparky curled up as well. Stephanie then went to her
table’s primary holographic display crystal, waved her hand over it
to light up and said “Stone, as agreed, here are my findings as
well as Renee’s medical results. I’m also going to need time to
record my findings… ah, Renee was recording the whole time. Good
girl.”

Their helmet visor screens lifted in their
Hunter armor. They began studying with one eye while the other
trained on Oliver. What they watched would leave even Steven
speechless and sit still.

“
Oliver, this is my old data
screen.” Stephanie said as she pulled out a square piece of pure
crystal that would be difficult to break. She sat it down on the
empty table she had him sit at to say “To activate it you must
touch it. It isn’t connected to the ship’s psionic energy supply.
It can work so long as you
touch
it with one hand. The other will get a keyboard
you can use to work the holo-screen about to appear. It is also
voice capable of taking commands. I’ll get you started.”

He rested the right hand, palm flatly atop
the crystal clear item and did as instructed saying “Tablet start.
Password: Lost treasures.” Stephanie lived for artifacts. It was
her passion. Lights made an adjustment for a left-handed user. A
keypad of sorts. In front though his vision filled with a white
screen. “Start sequence on tablet functions for maximum
efficiency.”

A woman’s soft voice asked “Would you like
audio, written or both?”

“
Written please.” A
confirmation chime rang out.

Oliver knew how to read and write so at first
he was slow in understanding diagrams and all uses the devise was
capable, but within ten minutes he had learned how to read multiple
screens simultaneously and let his left hand type and scroll
without needing to keep looking down to keep things on track. Like
gamers who can control a character without need to look down. A
pilot who doesn’t need to see their feet to know where the
accelerators and brakes are. A writer who doesn’t need to see the
keyboard to type.

In another ten minutes Steven said “By the
stars! You guys seeing this shit?”

“
The screens are moving so
fast I cannot tell when one screen changes. It’s a blur. And not
just one screen, he’s doing fifteen separate… simultaneously.”
Admitted Deegen with a headshake. Then pinched the bridge of his
nose, needing to look away.

Stone felt the need to tap his com. “Ms.
Dorgen, I request you do a scan of Oliver’s brain.”

The screen suddenly stopped blurring and
Oliver turned in his chair. “Is there an issue, Stone? Am I doing
something incorrectly?”

“
Just a hunch. Keep
working.” He said and hears Renee say ‘I’m on my way. Is it an
emergency?’ to which he replied “Take your time.”

Oliver meanwhile turned back around and
continued absorbing from all fifteen screens. He truly wasn’t
conscious of what he was doing. All he saw was a blur from fifteen
open screens, but he was learning at an exponential rate. Already
he mastered all forms of math. His fingers typed as if it had a
mind of its own and already he was finding history much more
interesting.

He assimilated over ten thousand years of
known human history with only the last thousand years making any
significant impartial collection without religious dominated
influence. He learned of evolution from single celled organisms and
how they changed, adapting to their environment. He learned about
multiple great extinction level events, ice ages and climate
shifts. He was intrigued by how humanity’s technology seemed to
explode from the age of industry. How computers were originally
made of metal and used inefficient electricity. He also learned how
savage humans were, but also could see their potential to grow far
outweighed their need to assert themselves to hold back said
growth.

In the late twenty first century humans
barely avoided another ice age by introducing algae into the
world’s oceans and ceased using fossil fuels for the bulk of their
energy needs when cold fusion made a major leap in the year twenty
two twenty which also in a decade produced an engine capable of
FTL. Faster Than Light. Humanity learned FTL travels in subspace
and takes ten thousandth the time of light’s constant speed, but
proved to still be slow though it was beyond the dreams of the
people at the time.

The key to traveling and not die of old age
between travels was the creation of administering of a synthetic
chromosome atop the natural twenty three. It gave humanity the cure
for the most terrifying disease of their world. Old age death due
to cellular deterioration. The new discovery wasn’t true
immortality, not at all. Such a thing doesn’t exist. It just took
the fear of dying a cellular death. One could still die from an
accidental slip and broken neck or get hit by lightning. Accidents
were more an ease of the mind that growing old, frail and loss of
mental function.