The Roo Collective Snippet 1

 So, it is that time again.

   Instead of kicking the Roo book again I decided to take the plunge and go with it. If you are curious, it is a one off science fiction novel (novella?) that combines 3 stories in Multiverse 5-7 with a final story. I had actually envisioned it as just 1 short story but when it kept growing I ended up splitting up and taking this approach. :)

So, if it feels familiar, you might have read part of it in one of those books.

Rea finished editing the last story. I generated a lot of AI art before I realized Amazon doesn't like it. So, I threw in the 3 pieces I did with minimum AI support and ran with what I've got. I'll post some of the AI art here.

So, first up... the beginning...

Burrow

 

“Stomper!” a voice screamed as the thunder of feet on the ground began to carry the news across the warren. Everyone looked up fearfully to the ceiling as they passed on the message. They began to move, slow at first, but then in the opposite direction of the sighting and of course downward. Always downward, though such instincts could be counterproductive to survival in some cases.

The Roo began to bottleneck at narrow choke points which caused a panic. Stampedes happened as the giant herbivores stomped closer and the dirt began to fall.

“Easy now, calmly, I said calmly,” the counter said, trying to get people to move with care.

Then the first cave-ins were reported.

Lop Ear rushed through the group to the high caverns. He went on all fours at one point, even bouncing off the walls to get around people. A few times he bounced off people too. The ground shook with every footfall. The air was cloudy with dust.

“You are going the wrong way!” a breeder complained. He ignored the complaint. He got to a hatch, stopped to catch his breathing, and then removed the pins holding it in place. He lifted it carefully and looked out. He went back and grabbed a spear, pulled the cover off the tip and then went back to look.

Lop Ear snarled in anger as he poked his head up from the hole to see the Stomper. It was more than one; others were in the distance but working the grove of trees upwind far from the burrow. It had tentacles on the front and long heavy legs. The thing browsed the trees, ripping leaves and fruit off of them.

As tempting as it was to attack, he forced himself to stand firm near the root of the opposing tree. It was too late; if he went to attack the beast now, it could fall and destroy what he sought to protect. No, the warren would just have to cope with the disaster to come.

Each foot stomp shook the caverns. When one foot came down too hard, it went through the top layer and the beast stumbled before it recovered. It moved away, sidling away from the unstable ground.

The tree began to release toxins in the air to defend itself. The beast made a loud trumpeting sound as thorns began to prick its tentacles. The thorns were the tree's second level of defense.

After one more browse of tentacles, the beast moved away and then towards a copse of trees upwind and thus avoiding the smells the tree had released to warn others of its kind.

Lop Ear noted the direction and sighed. It was through hard ground so the tunnels there should be safe. He watched until the beast was beyond the third tree and then ducked down to see what the damage was and if he could help dig some people out if they were still alive.

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The defender went back down into the warren and to the largest chamber near the collapsed tunnels. Doc was there triaging the wounded.  The brown and white spotted Roo had to listen to plenty of hearts with a hollowed-out horn, reassuring those who had been stressed by the disaster. He used pieces of volcanic glass to magnify small things to see bigger.

Cloud eyes were common ailments of the old as well as stress on their heart. Gas was another; those who ate too much of a certain diet tended to get it and complain constantly.

A check of the stool and an order of medicinal herbs would fix someone up for a time.

None of that applied here though, so as soon as he was certain the patient was in no danger of death, he moved on to check others. Occasionally, he had to bandage a wound or set a broken limb. Those Roo that had been trampled he had to check. There were a few that had died in the crush of bodies, and the diggers were ready to move them on to the next life. Their families cried as they sorted out their belongings.

He shook his head and moved on.

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