Hooves

Hooves

     He reared, hooves piercing the sky . . . trying to break through the clouds hanging low over their village that day. Damnam knew he had to pierce those clouds to stop the rain from destroying them. When the clouds are that low it meant a heavy rain fall. The rain from high up was welcomed by the village. But the low ones were a Death Rain. It burned the hides off the Hooves.

     Damnam kept swatting at those clouds. And little by little he got through them – until at last there was sunshine. Only a tiny bit. But it was enough to turn the dark clouds to a light blue. Damnam saved his village that day – but it cost him his life to do it.

     Making the hole bigger in the cloud to bring out more sunshine Damnam made a discovery: They were not alone on the planet they call Luctian. Damnam saw what was just above the clouds just seconds before it disappeared. He didn’t know what it was. But he knew he had to tell his people about it. Damnam galloped back down the tallest hill near their village.

     "It’s a large metal structure hidden among the cloud." That’s one of the things Damnam said as he raced down that hill. Damnam never told his people what he saw. A Laser Bolt which looked like lightning came out of that hole – and hit him right in his head. He died before his four legs separated and hit the ground. Once he hit the ground he slid the rest of the way down that hill. Only a large tree stopped him from hitting their village.

<<<***>>>***<<<***>>>

     “Do you think it saw us?” Jacsina saw the Hoove spread out on the big monitor in front of her.

     “The way it was traveling down that hill I would say definitely saw us.” Toroff sat next to Jacsina behind a Control Panel.

     “It doesn’t matter if it did or not. It’s been eliminated.” Florine stood behind Toroff and Jacsina. “I will be in my quarters if anything else comes up with the Hooves.” She turned a left Command Central.

     Florine talked to herself as she headed down several corridors on her way to her quarters. “This is nearly over for us. It was supposed to be for only a few weeks. A month at the most. That was almost ten years ago.”

<<<***>>>***<<<***>>>

     Four Little Hooves, two males and two females, were the ones who literally stumbled over the dead Damnam. Two of them galloped off for help while the other two stayed with Damnam. About an hour later several Big Hooves showed up.

     “That’s Damnam.” One look at the body and Patrok, a close friend of Damnam, knew who it was.

     “What happened here Little Hooves.” Yessus, the village Healer, said after examining the body.

     “We don’t know. But I’m the one who practically tripped over him.” Young Hoove, Minnian, stayed behind with Sora.

     “He was already dead when we found him.” Young Hoove, Corre, went for help with Pe-en.

     “I never said you had anything to do with his dead.” Yessus said to the four Little Ones. “It was lightning that killed him. But I need to know if any of you saw how it happened.”

     “It came out of the hole in the cloud. But it didn’t look like lightning to me.” Young Sora diverted her eyes from Damnam.

     “That’s unusual. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a death like that before.” Viani, the village Leader, had just walked up to the four Little Ones.

     “I don’t know what he said. But he was saying something as he was galloping down the hill.” Young Pe-en couldn’t take his eyes off of Damnam.

<<<***>>>***<<<***>>>

     “A bunch of baby Hooves found him.” Toroff told Florine when she came back to Command Central.

     “Did he say anything before he died?” Florine asked both Jascina and Toroff.

     “We have been monitoring them like you said. And one of the babies did mention him saying something while trying to escape us. But it couldn’t hear what he said.” Jascina said all that.

     “I’m going to contact Home World. And see what they want us to do.” Florine said as she started to leave. “Besides, I want to know when our replacements are going to get here.”

<<<***>>>***<<<***>>>

     Six Hooves stood up on their back legs. Then four of them bent down to pick up one of Damnam’s legs. The other two got on either side of his body. They used their out-stretched legs to support Damnam while the all escorted him back to the village.

     The four Little Ones and the other Big Hooves who had showed up there were right behind them. Everyone was talking about what happened – and why.

     “We will find out what’s going on as soon as I can do a complete examination.” Yessus followed right behind the six and Damnam.

     Viani walked right next to Yessus. “If something is wrong here we will find out soon enough.”

     The four Little Ones were right behind Yessus and Viani. Then came the other Hooves. All four of the Little Ones, one by one, looked back up the hill toward the cloud – and that hole.

<<<***>>>***<<<***>>>

     “Get ready to go. We are leaving here as soon as you are ready.” Florine said as she walked into Command Central.

     “The replacements are going to be here that quickly?” Jascina said first.

     Toroff was close behind her. “I’ve been ready to go for months.”

     “There are no replacements. And there never was going to be. Our Home World of Onin abandoned this project right after I sent in my first report on the Hooves. Since they were living like Humans we can’t use them to feed us – even if there are over fifty trillion of them on this planet.”