Subject: STORY: The Prey by Koala Bear
From: Koala Bear <Woody@Lava.net>
Date: 23 Nov 1997 18:18:07 -0800
This is the first in what I intend to be a theme series of short tales dedicated to CP. More will follow if the response is favorable. The usual disclaimers apply to both the subject and the characters. *****Please see special note regarding this planned series; to be found at the end of this strange and terrifying tale.
Prowling relentlessly, Ghoren hunted his prey. Four huge feathery ears swiveled constantly, seeking sounds imperceptible to lesser creatures. Six meters from head to lashing tail, three meters at the shoulder, his long conical snout was covered with eight rows of bulbous eyes. Six powerful legs could propel his giant blue-plated form at an astonishing speed over the boulder-strewn icy landscape that covered most of the surface of his tiny world. Merely four hundred kilometers in diameter, the moonlet orbited a gas giant of incredible size in a galaxy at the edge of the known universe.
One of the largest of his kind, Ghoren was able to leap thirty meters in a single bound. Each of his broad feet was equipped with eight sharp claws, which gave him great agility on the slippery jumble of frozen methane. Six long tentacles sprouted from his shoulders, two ending in special purpose manipulators, the others equipped with powerful suckers. To sum up this incredible being, his great iron muscled mass was perfectly evolved for one specific purpose: to track, capture, and wreak havoc upon a specific type of prey. And so this mighty predator flowed over the rocks and ice cliffs with deadly purpose, all his extraordinary senses attuned and alert for the very special ones he sought.
The creature that Ghoren so mercilessly hunted was at that moment peacefully grazing at the base of a high cliff of methane ice. It was feeding on a particularly succulent cluster of sulfur crystals. Occupied with the delicious taste, the prey was not very attentive, and carelessly noisy. Two meters from wide splayed toes to huge haunch, the creature nibbled on the ocher feast. Rump high, short torso bent forward, long neck stretched to the limit, the prey munched contentedly.
Gentle, rather stupid, and with weak memory, the prey lived in the moment. Their primary purpose was to eat and reproduce, and little else was part of their brief lives. Only the terrible hunters like Ghoren could shatter their placid browsing and drive the lavender beasts into fantastic leaps and bounds as they fled, bleating and squealing in terror.
Ghoren was restless, his eyes spearing through the swirling violet gloom, seeing clearly in the dim light of the three distant suns. His lungs pumped effortlessly, feeding his body the exotic mixture of gases that would kill in seconds any creature not bred on this moon. Ravenous and in need of a capture, Ghoren had not obtained his special sustenance in many rotations, and hunger was a consuming fire in his belly and his brain.
If he did not find one of the prey creatures soon, his strength would wane, further increasing his predicament. Mind and body were thus entirely focused when Ghoren heard something. Instantly he froze, then his long snout began to slowly rotate. His ears had detected very faint rustling sounds, and his multiple eyes scanned in that direction. Yes! There at the base of the cliff! A spot of pale lavender against the saffron and translucent green. It was a prey!
Intense with overwhelming purpose, Ghoren began his stalk. Moving in slow motion, with freeze-frame pauses, he oozed closer and ever closer to his intended victim. The prey had not seen him, and Ghoren was almost within striking distance when one of his legs dislodged a bit of broken ice. It clattered down a small slope and broke into a tinkling shower of smaller particles.
The creature froze in alarm, small head bobbing, the belt of tiny eyestalks girding its fat waist blinking rapidly, swiveling in all directions. Suddenly, without effort, it jumped straight up the high ice cliff. Landing above, it immediately leaped again, its large haunches driving it forward in long, ground covering bounds. Now upright and two-legged, it would seem to be no match for Ghoren. But the prey had one very useful advantage, it could jump: high, fast and far. Great muscled thighs and haunches powered long tapering legs that could explode with stored energy when fright and fear demanded flight. Unfortunately, the prey lacked endurance, and within a tenth of a rotation, Ghoren had run it down.
As the prey tottered and slowed, Ghoren sprang high and accurately to the kill! Landing just to the rear of the creature, four of Ghoren's six tentacles moved with swift purpose to immobilize the NaaTee. Two wrapped around the creature's knees, sweeping it off its feet. Two more locked around the waist, effectively blinding and binding it securely. The two longest tentacles were now ready to begin the intricate process of feeding. Ghoren paused for a moment, in delicious anticipation, savoring the tender feast held helpless in his grasp, and then the two special purpose tentacles came into play.
Only used for feeding, each long manipulator was tipped with a large flat paddle shaped appendage, which Ghoren now applied with merciless ferocity to the NaaTee's plump rump. The creature squealed and bleated piteously, and then as the terrible blows continued battering its bottom, it burst into high-pitched sobs. It struggled and twisted in Ghoren's firm grasp, and soon was wailing in agony from the mounting pain.
The bipedal primates inhabiting a tiny blue planet, circling a small yellow sun, on the edge of an undistinguished galaxy, ten million lightyears distant, could not hear these cries. But if they had, it would have sounded entirely familiar. The bipeds would have shaken their heads and said: "Wow! She is really getting it!"
And the NaaTee was REALLY getting it! Ghoren's two powerful manipulators were now a windmill blur of activity, smashing the hard paddle ends again and again into the poor beast's behind. The spanking went on and on, for many hundredth rotations, the loud cracks and smacks ricocheting from one ice crag to another. Almost imperceptible, faintly at first, the NaaTee's large rump began to glow. Ghoren growled savagely, and the great paddles came down even harder and faster! The bottom was now a bright orange, the green ice reflecting the unusual hue as Ghoren prepared to feed. The tempo and power of the paddles increased again, and soon the Naatee's haunches had become nearly incandescent!
Ghoren growled again, his excitement mounting as he again increased the blistering punishment. His feathery ears began to unfold, and expand, and unfold and expand even more, until they had formed a monstrous parabola around his head. The paddle tentacles slowed, and then finally stopped. His mission now accomplished, Ghoren could relax and bask in the brilliant light shed by the NaaTee, while his ears did the work of capturing the rich feast of radiant light.
Held firmly in Ghoren's grasp, the sobbing NaaTee glowed brightly. Crouched next to the crying creature, Ghoren at last allowed his great ear collectors to drink the life sustaining infra-red emanating from the soundly spanked glowing haunches. As the nourishment spread through his system, he felt new strength and new purpose flowing within. A twentieth rotation later, when the radiance had almost faded from the NaaTee's hot rump, Ghoren released his grip. The pitiful punished creature shambled off, snuffling and whimpering softly, its faintly glowing behind a lonely, bobbling, incarnadine beacon in the violet night.
Ghoren pointed his snout to the dark sky and howled in triumph. One of the few remaining SpanKhors, he would survive a little longer, and hunt again. His hunger satiated, Ghoren's thoughts turned to another kind of hunt. It was time to seek a different kind of prey; it was time to find a female of his species.
(Dedicated to the spirit of A. E. Van Vogt, who was always inspiring).
Please Note: This is the first in a series of CP stories which will range through unlimited places, times and climes. The series to be known as:
SPANKING TIME AND SPACE