Post date: May 14, 2016 12:41:50 PM
Caradorynee: Feats & Wagers
#7
Lark was not disappointed. His gamble on the Human girl was about to pay off in a big way.
Her yield of docarass was at least triple what any of the other competitors had and even more than he himself had been capable of gathering when he’d competed.
Lark grinned.
As he’d suspected the girl did have powers and one of those powers was her extraordinary sense of smell. Plus she appeared to be rather intelligent. A potent combination.
Not needing to see the end of the current battle, Lark started to make his way towards the wagering booths. Without a doubt the Human girl would advance to the next challenge. Her first place standing would give her a slight advantage over any of the other competitors that advanced along with her.
It was time to increase his winnings even further.
A few minutes later, while standing in the somewhat shorter queue than he’d been in before, Lark pondered which of the Caradorynee work details the Human girl would choose.
The sole goal, aside from offering the Caradorynean population the opportunity to gamble, the Shegata battles were the most efficient way for the creatures on Caradorynee to decide which of the few industries that the planet of Caradorynee offered would best suit them.
The first challenge: the competitor’s battle, was designed to establish whether a competitor was capable of defending oneself or not.
The art of defence was crucial in the most basic of the Caradorynean industries, which was the accumulation of ash. Tons and tons of ash from the Dormoan volcanoes was gathered each day, requiring a strong back and the ability to endure hard labour.
For those that did not advance after the first challenge, they were relegated to becoming ‘ash diggers’. For those that proved their defence capability, they became potential ‘ash defenders’ and if brave enough would battle against the ash worms which fed upon anything that dared to traverse through the ash fields.
Since ash, when compacted, formed ash bricks working in the ash camps was the quickest way to make a merger living off of the bonedoons that were doled out at the end of each day. For most Caradoryneans that was a fair exchange. Hard work for little pay.
And since ash bricks were the building blocks for Caradorynee’s infrastructure, from roads to buildings to well…just about everything, labourers were always in high demand.
Unfortunately the majority of Caradoryneans found the work tedious and rarely kept at it for very long.
The second challenge: the docarass yield, was to determine which of the competitors had the strongest sense of smell as well as the capacity to think.
Docarass gathering was another of the planet’s basic industries, but few could gather the delicate docarass in sufficient quantities that the industry desperately needed. The Human girl had great potential in this area.
Docarass was an essential component in Caradorynean medical practices. The medicinal drug, made from crushed docarass, was administered to the population for any number of ailments and was universally adaptable to any species.
Again, there wasn’t much profit to be gained, barely enough for one to survive on, so Lark hoped that even though the Human girl had potential, she would forgo this industry as well.
The third challenge: the combination of maze and obstacle course, was to test a competitor’s sense of direction. Getting lost in the Dormoan volcano caves was by far the quickest way to die on Caradorynee. The risks of succumbing to the volcanic lava boils was at a death ratio of 1:2.
Nearly half never returned and the reason why the Shegata markings, a derivative of the lava and other components, were only given to winning competitors and dispensed in very thin spidery-web lines.
Lark doubted that the Human girl would risk those odds, which he was eternally thankful for. His plan couldn’t work if the girl was dead.
The fourth and last challenge: the cone climb, was the final test to establish if a competitor could climb the massive cones in the cone fields the volcanoes created and where Caradorynee’s currency of bonedoons were harvested.
Lark secretly prayed that the girl would choose the cone fields. He’d had many years of experience and could offer valuable information on how to amass a fortune. For both himself and her.
And a fortune would be needed for his plan to be a success. A grand fortune and a bucket load of luck.
Star took a long draught of the ale-like beverage and licked the sheen of foam from her upper lip.
Thirst, her biggest concern niggled at the back of her mind. She had to keep drinking to save off dehydration. The Caradorynean sun, now at it’s highest apex, shone blisteringly hot, searing Star’s already sunburned flesh. Star reached for a fourth tanker.
The third challenge: the maze was laid out invitingly. Star’s eyes scanned the layout of the twisting and turning pathways from her coveted position, awarded by her 1st place win, at the top of the towering observation structure. The high barriers of ash bricks throughout the maze would offer Star the brief hope of a respite of shade.
The maze looked simple enough she gauged, like the holographic structures of hay bales, she’d enjoyed as a child on the spacecraft she and the crew of the Artemis had travelled the universe in search of a hospitable planet in which to create another Earth colony.
However, it was the lava boils that gave Star pause.
Even as she studied the small mounds one of the boils erupted, spewing scalding lava up into the air. She knew the timing would be crucial if she meant to traverse through the mine fields of lava boils.
Her best option was to locate a pathway that had the least amount.
With barely a few more seconds, Star studied the maze’s twist and turns setting them to memory.
A Caradorynee master probed her with the tip of the buzzing tool. It wasn’t buzzing at the moment and Star felt no more than a gently nudge on her shoulder.
Star drained the last of the tanker of liquid and handed the empty holder to a Fewpo who had been standing nearby.
She took a deep breath.
Time to beat the maze or get seared trying.
©Human in Inhuman Worlds by Janet Merritt