After the showing of MMFs concert things had changed in Tri's village. The gloom of the dimly lit underground cavern felt very different. There was a purpose to the bunnies, a focus of attention that Chantelle hadn't felt before as they embraced everything the pack wanted to teach them. Picking what to teach the bunnies, however, had certainly been an animated discussion. There were some things Seinu wouldn't budge on and at first they had surprised Chantelle, but the more she thought about it and listened to his arguments, the more the blue Avali agreed with Selenu and Seinu that they didn't have the necessary knowledge to teach and uplift an entire species.
Teaching things like reading, maths or writing, all involved skills that the pack could half arse in the time they had left. But leaving the lessons unfinished would make a mess and leave the Bunnies with an incomplete skill-set that, in addition, would be less useful than other, more practical teachings. So Seinu had settled on a programme focusing on practical things that could improve bunny life without getting overly complex. This meant leaving out anything that couldn't be achieved in the five months they had left. Another important criteria for Seinu was making sure they were things the bunnies could teach other villages.
This still left a broad pool of things to pick from and Chantelle had found her semi-clandestine hydroponics plan pulled into the light, dusted off and approved. As Seinu explained, bunnies didn’t necessarily need the technical knowledge behind how something worked. They just needed to know what to do to make it work and a better understanding of underlying principles could come later.
Teaching them wholesale agriculture would have to wait... It wasn’t like they could plough up fields of snow and plant crops, anyways. The surface was still deadly even with Firi and Ki’s drones patrolling. But hydroponics was something she could teach them! It was also aided by the fact Avali hydroponic growth tanks could do a lot of the complicated science themselves. Sitting on a stool at her make-shift science lab Chantelle was watching her team of bunnies hard at work as she waited for a report to compile.
Joa, her very pregnant, sandy furred bunny friend was leading the team, repeating the instructions the blue and white Avali had taught her. It was pretty easy and mostly involved pressing buttons on the control panel until the correct lights came on. Chantelle had got Taran to reprogram the hydroponic controls and remove all the writing and replace it with status lights and indicators. This made it a lot easier for the bunnies to set them up, with a proper understanding on how to start the process. The white and orange hydroponic bays could then take care of things like tilling the soil, watering and adjusting the soil chemistry.
It was still a challenge. They were not equipped for big complicated concepts such as soil bacteria, nitrate fixing plants and seed germination procedures, they lacked the educational background needed for the science. The basic concept that you could take a seed and grow it in a tub of soil was entirely alien to the bunnies. Once she had introduced them to that concept she’d reluctantly agreed that Seinu had been right, the bunnies were smart, they were curious and wanted to know "how" but lacked the background knowledge to teach them the real technical stuff, but this hadn’t put her off doing her best to teach them some of it. She’d gone and looked up what Avali nurseries started with and then pared it back a level. The Nexus's educational programmes were not designed for large groups. Raising Avali kits was managed by specialist nursery packs, packs trained since birth to look after and raise kits with the added assistance of the Oracle’s educational programme and neural links; she had none of those options available down here, but the absolute basics and practicalities of what to do had worked. Her team of curious bunnies had followed her instructions to prime the current tray and were now digging holes with their claws, pushing seeds into the damp soil and covering them over.
Chantelle smiled as Joa waddled over, she had about another week to go before she’d retreat to a safe place to lay her egg, so she was certainly rotund right now.
“Hi,” she chirped happily in Avali core. They had all been picking up Avali words so fast, “Everyone is planting seeds, what are you doing?”
Chantelle patted the stool next to her and Joa scrambled up onto it, “I am looking at the seed of a Cinati tree,” she pointed at a large seed nestled in a tray, “It is important I learn about them.”
Joa giggled, “We can’t plant those down here! They don't grow underground... and even if they did it couldn't break through the cavern roof.”
“This is true,” Chantelle smiled, “But I can try to use science so just the fruit can be grown without the tree.”
Joa’s eyes went wide at that and she peered at the seed, “How!?”
“That will take a lot of explaining,” Chantelle said patiently, “But in essence I will use my science tools to try to instruct the seed to just grow the fruit,” she looked at the seed, “Though I might not be able to finish it before we leave.”
“Wow,” Joa peered at the seed, “That’s so cool! Cinati fruit is the best ever! It’s so juicy and sweet, soft and cool and just ahhh it feels so nice to sink your fangs into some.”
“Ah I’ve not tried it,” Chantelle said sheepishly rubbing the back of her head, “I have seen them fall from the trees and am astounded at how hard they hit the ground.”
Joa gave her a long look, “We have so much now! Before they used to fall and splash and spray juice everywhere, now they are stopping before they hit the ground. We have brought so many down here! How have you not," she shook her head in amusement, "You are trying it, wait there.”
She jumped down and waddled off and Chantelle laughed, it looked like she was going to have some Cinati fruit. She'd been so fascinated by its biology she hadn’t even thought about eating some. She loaded her notes and turned on the microphone and dictated some more whilst she waited.
“As far as I can tell the fruit itself will remain fresh and edible for months if it is intact. The trees also deliver fruit all year round, with Babupekkakerok taking two hundred and twenty four Avali years to complete one rotation around its sun; the seasons can be measured in decades, any seasonal shifts would be practically imperceptible to bunny eyes and based on the fossil record have little impact on the life-cycle of flora or fauna so fruit grows continuously throughout the entire year.”
She leant back and watched Joa and a group of bunnies rolling a large brown oval toward her, “The fruits themselves mass at nearly 9 kg, even in the low gravity of this world having one land on you is deadly. They are blue-green when immature, orange when maturing and brown when ripe. When a fruit falls and opens up it will still be edible but will last just a few days, forcing bunnies to go out and forage more often”.
She stood up and watched at how skillfully a single bunny was able to roll the fruit, she reached up to her visor and turned on the record function, “Bunnies are incredibly strong, it is taking just one of them to move this fruit that is practically the same size as them, under their thick fur bunnies are just dense layers of compact muscle, relative to their size their strength is phenomenal, a side effect of their biology plus the daily fight for survival,”
The Avali smiled and waved at Joa as she caught her watching but carried on speaking, “But back to the fruit. The interior of the Cinati fruit is red and the juice content is high, the fruit itself is soft and spongy and liquifies easily, a method I believe for the trees to soften the frozen ground so the seed can germinate.”
She glanced at the seed in the tray, “I believe I can adapt the seed to just grow the fruit in an Avali hydroponics bay, but the gene encoding will take months so I will pass this one over to the team back on Avalon to complete.”
She smiled as Joa waved for her to come over, the team planting seeds had broken off to gather around, “One final note… Cinati Trees are integral to the ecosystem here on Babupekkakerok. Lots of beneficial plants grow in the sheltered lee of the trees, meaning bunnies have to forage in potential fruit drop zones for staple foods but that is also a prime growing location for plants that can eat bunnies. We should look into this and examine the environmental factors needed for large-scale surface farming; shade and protection from the snow storms seems to be a factor.”
She paused the recording and headed over to join the others, “So how do we open this thing?”
“Teeth,” Joa giggled, “Like this,” she leant over the top of the fruit and sank her teeth into the rounded top. She took a moment to slurp up some of the juice via the holes her extra large incisors made and nodded.
“It’s ripe,” She confirmed, then carefully and skillfully used the rest of her incredibly sharp fangs to sever the top off the fruit. She then gripped the fruit in both her hands and the whole thing came apart with barely any effort. No, Chantelle realised it was quite a bit of effort, she could see the corded muscles in Joa’s arms flex but her strength was more than a match to make it seem effortless.
The fruit was thick and red inside and Joa broke off chunks and handed it out to the bunnies. Chantelle took a chunk but for a moment was lost in the messy, gooey sight of her friends devouring the fruit. They sank their fangs into it and started to slurp up the juice, but a lot of it still escaped, leaking down their muzzles to stain the fur on their chin and neck ruff. She could well imagine how a human finding a bunny with bright sharp fangs and covered in this thick, sticky, dark red juice might look like a creature who had just feasted on something's blood. Hence the human name Vampire Bunny.
Chantelle took a bite of it herself and blinked, the taste was like nothing she’d ever encountered. Cool and juicy, a soft flavour at first that faded to a tart tang at the end. Chantelle chewed slowly then took another bite, it was really rather good. Now they had slurped out most of the juice, the bunnies were all tearing off chunks and letting it melt by using their tongues to press it to the top of their mouths. She tried this herself, bunny teeth didn’t have molars so they couldn’t grind, Avali fangs were no better, designed to rip off chunks of meat they were pretty apt for tearing off lumps of fruit. It was indescribable and yet so very good, the flavour was rich and unusual, she took another big bite and sat back to just let it melt and vibe with her bunny friends.
From where she was sitting Chantelle could see the first peek of green shoots in the hydroponics bay they’d planted a week ago. This was good, she could finally show her friends the first hints of success but after lunch... She took another bite of Cinati and sighed in delight as she let it melt, she had to ensure they filled the Odyssey’s hold with some of these before they left.
Ki hurried out of the mechanics bay on the Odyssey, a series of drones following him carrying a large crate as he ran toward the teleporter room. He’d lost track of time entirely and was going to be late. A few weeks ago the black and white Avali had joined Yin's foraging party, the group of five bunnies liked to forage at night under the light of the moons, it was in a way slightly less dangerous but a bit more challenging due to the severely reduced vision, but rewarding in other ways. He'd originally asked to go along so he could refine the tracking equipment on the anti-predator grid for keeping bunnies safe at night.
What he hadn't quite been expecting was how seriously they took joining a foraging party. Taran, Selenu and Firi had all commented on how important it was to the bunnies since it was their way to feed the whole community, but Ki hadn't joined the dots about its level of importance. Ki had told Tel what he wanted to do, accompany a foraging party at night so he could test the drones. A temporary thing, three nights at most so he could get proper readings and test things but that wasn't how bunnies thought.
If Ki was going to join a foraging party then he was going to actually join the foraging party, even if it was just a temporary thing. Yin had been ecstatic at the idea when Tel introduced them; they had been hoping one of the Friends from space would join them for a while and the grey and sandstone blonde bunny had dragged him off to meet the rest of his team. There was her mate Dis whose strength was his physical prowess, allowing him to carry a larger basket. Hol was quick and dexterous, able to gather fruit from deep inside tangle-brush. Weld had amazing eyesight, able to spot a predator at a great distance from the smallest amount of movement. Their newest member was Gli, she'd only been part of the team for about three cycles of the moons and her sense of smell could root out fresh berries from a greater distance than all of them.
The foraging parties were the core of village life; everyone except the hat makers and Elder belonged to one. And even then, at some point in the past they had also been part of one; being accepted onto a team meant you were finally an adult in the eyes of the other bunnies. From the age of three or four when a baby bunny was deemed old enough to leave their room until sometime between the ages of sixteen to nineteen a bunny was expected to learn how to forage and bring back food, contributing to the well-being and survival of the village. Many baby bunnies went missing and never came home whilst learning the skills they needed to survive. Even being escorted by adult bunnies, if a predator attacked the main tactic was to scatter, and in almost all cases adults could escape first the children were expected to run, hide and fend for themselves. It was brutal, but unfortunately losing a child who couldn't contribute to the village was less devastating then the loss of a fully trained adult.
Ki had found it fascinating and also terrifying at how demanding (and ruthlessly cruel) it was, compared to how Avali society worked. This became an incentive to do his work for Yin’s foraging party with as close to perfection as he could muster; it was so important to them as a village and his contributions meant the world to the bunnies.
Before they had installed the anti-predator grid and the zero-chests for food storage the whole village relied upon getting food daily, stopping only during storms. They had no way to store food so a constant supply was required. They were also limited by how much they could bring home, because their only form of transport were their hats and baskets woven from reeds and strips of bark. A foraging party would spend a whole day or night travelling for hours to find food, eat what they could on site then load up as much as they could carry home. All whilst on the lookout for land and air based predators or deadly plants. Like Chantelle had said a while ago, mortality rates were extremely high, even working together they would lose someone at least every few months, although frequently more.
After a day foraging they would rest, spending the next couple days planning where to go next and teaching the youngster (as they collectively referred to any bunny old enough to leave their room but not yet recognized as an adult), while other parties took their turns. It was a physically demanding, monotonous and deadly way to live. Ki’s place in the team was to help defend the bunnies from predators, he had a spear with him and anti predator drones keeping an eye on everyone as they went about the business of foraging for food by moonlight. He had initially only intended to stay with them for those three days he needed to test the drones but now he was going out with the team whenever they went out foraging and joining their planning sessions the day before. They knew he wouldn’t be staying with their team forever but whilst he was there they were very glad to have him on their team and he for one was very happy to help keep them all safe. Hurrying across the cavern the avali joined the bunnies at their usual spot and smiled, “Yi, Dis, Hol, Weld, Gli hello everyone.”
“Hi Ki,” they chorused happily and Yi tilted his hat back and smiled warmly, “Are you ok? I was starting to think you wouldn’t make it today.”
“Sorry,” Ki smiled. “I know I am late but I brought you all some gifts,” he turned and moving his bionic hand, ordering the drone to set the crate on the ground, “I know I can’t give you a drone and you all have spears now,” he smiled at Yin and Weld who had been training hard for months now, “But I wanted to give you these. These crates are lightweight, let you carry more and, well, I think one of these carried by two of you will bring more food than just two baskets. What do you think?”
The bunnies gathered around, examining the light-weight tungsten crates, chirping in curiosity over the sledge runners Ki had mounted on them, “Why don’t they have the round things,” Weld waved a hand trying to recall the word, “Like the other ones, the wells, weelds, wheels, those, the wheels like the other ones you brought down here?”
“These ski runners work better on snow and ice,” Ki said, “We can take one of them with us tonight and I’ll show you how they work.”
“They look great,” Gli chirped and Yi nodded, shouldering her spear. “We are heading to a foraging space about three hours away, if this can carry as much as two baskets, that's amazing, we can safely push two of them between us all?”
“Well then,” Ki smiled, “Shall we get going?”
The air was cold, like a pleasant midsummer day on Avalon but with the added benefit of clear light blue skies. The only clouds Selenu could see were small wisps around the peaks of the mountains to the north. It was warmer than any day on Avalon however, not by much, a balmy -4°C under the soft green light of the sun.
The clearing they had set up in was about two miles from the village, halfway towards their original base camp. It was a good clearing; off the main path and away from any trees. There was ample cover around the edges, safe bushes and ferns and a shrub that produced small yellow fruits. They had a soft fuzzy skin, a pulpy interior filled with seeds and then a heavy, nectar laden core that melted on the tongue. Selenu had tried one and they were good, the bunnies called them “Mellow Mouthfuls.”
The main benefit of the clearing however wasn’t the snacks but its length, it was long enough for spear practice with a series of target drones set up at various intervals of increasing difficulty. Each pair of drones created a holographic field the bunnies had to throw their spears through. It also let them adjust the size of the target from quite wide to very small. Watching the line of bunnies with their spears Selenu moved along and stopped a couple of times to help a bunny adjust their grip. Once she was satisfied she waved an arm at Taran who waved back that his end of the line was ready.
“Ok spears up,” she called, “And… throw!”
An arc of nine avali spears flashed through the air, orange aerogel crystal blades humming as they went. Each one went through the nearest target which shimmered green to register each hit.
“Yi, Noh, Vi hold,” she called out, throwing out a hand, “Where do you think you are going?”
The three eager bunnies looked up at her, they frowned and Vi piped up, “To get my spear?”
“No,” Selenu said firmly, looking up and down the line, “Can anyone tell me what they did wrong?”
A grey bunny three along raised their spear, “I’ve not thrown mine yet?”
“Exactly,” Selenu said, “Gyi hasn’t thrown yet, nor has Fi,” she smiled. “You did good, all of you those were perfect throws but there is more to this than just knowing how to throw,” she motioned for everyone to gather around, “You have to work as a team, you need to be aware of what your other Friends are doing. Anything could happen when you are out together in the wild but one of the most important things to learn is to be aware of what your friends are doing with their weapons.
She clapped her hands, “Now Gyi, Fi, you both have a go, pick a target and throw.”
Selenu watched as the two bunnies stepped up to the line, brought their spears up and hurled them at the third target. It was a narrow one less than a foot wide and a good sixty metres away. Both spears flashed through the target and it flashed green. The bunnies cheered and Selenu clapped her hands together, wing feathers ruffling beneath her poncho.
“There, now everyone can go grab your spear and come back.”
The group headed off chattering, all eleven of them unerringly heading for their own spear. Selenu couldn’t tell whose was whose, even if she hadn’t been limited by Avali eyes she wouldn’t have been able to tell. They were all identical but through the power of their noses everyone headed for the spear they had started with. Shaking her head, impressed by their skills she trudged through the trampled down snow to Taran who was sitting on a box watching.
“Remind me,” he asked, “How we wound up giving spear lessons, this seems like Firi’s thing.”
She nudged him gently and sat next to him with a smile, “Firi is teaching Thiln and her select group how to chain-gun and Ki is doing maintenance on the anti-predator drone patrols, he is setting up an auto-repair system in an empty cave nearby so it will remain operational longer.”
“I still can’t believe Seinu gave in on the chainguns,” Taran shook his head, “He was adamant no guns.”
Selenu laughed, “Firi cheated, she set the twins and Thiln on him, he has a soft spot for the three of them and they already knew the basics,” she smiled, “He gave in, two chain guns and a stack of ammo for dire emergencies only. Though I don’t think he realises Firi also provided them with a nano-lathe that just makes ammo and has been teaching them what materials to put into it."
“She isn’t?” Taran said incredulously then laughed, ears perking back, “Of course she is, how is she keeping that one from him?”
“I am not sure yet, I could have said no but decided it was fine” Selenu laughed, “You see…”
She was interrupted as one of the male bunnies, De, suddenly bounded forward calling out in alarm, “Cy what are you doing in the open! Get back under cover!”
Selenu turned and was momentarily blinded by the green glare from the sun. Her glasses took a moment to filter it out as she squinted, she could see a tiny bunny shape chasing something. They pounced and came up holding a bug in their paws which they bit down on ignoring De’s shout. The lime Avali’s thought about the ion pistol on her belt, how she could use it to defend the bunny but before her hand could begin to move she saw the Bark Dropper fall.
They were a nasty cousin of the Shadow Wing, their brown and grey mottled body blended perfectly into the trunks of the local trees. This was causing them to be a real pain for the anti-predator drones to detect. It fell, wings tucked in against the side of its body, slick, with its sharp talons outstretched as it plunged towards Cy who was looking in incomprehension in her father’s direction as she chewed her hard caught bug.
“No…” Taran shouted, scrambling for his spear even as Chantelle desperately went for her gun. At her size Cy would likely be killed instantly the moment those talons hit and the damn bird would swoop away with her. Something flashed over the avali’s head, slammed into the Bark Dropper, knocking it backwards and pinning it to the trunk of the tree. Cy turned, stared at it for a second screamed and fled back into the bushes she had been previously hiding in.
Selenu ran forwards but De over-took her on all fours and the rest of the class carrying their spears caught up to the two avali. Soon enough the class were ringing the bush, spears pointing outwards, searching for more predators whilst De coaxed his daughter out of the bush and held her in his arms. He stood there trembling and stroking Cy’s ears as he stared at the spear sticking out of the tree with the dead Bark Dropper pinned in place.
“I… I…” he stumbled on his words, chirping incomprehensibly for a moment before shaking his head, “I saw it dropping, I… I could hear it, the flap of wings and she’d be gone and I just threw it… I stopped it.”
Selenu rested a hand on his head, “You did yes,” she said softly, “And that was a good thing,” she looked around at the curious crowd of bunnies, “We are teaching you how to use these spears to defend yourselves… not to attack first, not to hunt but to protect.”
Taran knelt down and held De’s paw, “You believe in a Great Protector and in the balance, and we are sure this balance is not harmed by you learning to defend yourselves.”
He glanced toward the Bark Dropper, “Some of you will still be killed, sadly even we can't make the anti-predator net save every bunny or stop every predator. But some who might otherwise have died will survive, like today… instead of De going home sad at seeing his little one killed he gets to go home with her knowing she has a chance to grow up.”
He smiled down at Cy who was now hiding under De’s poncho-like neck ruff, huddled against him, “Cy is with us still but the balance is not disrupted.”
De took a deep breath, still trembling, “The... the dropper died instead of a bunny...?”
“Indeed,” Selenu said as she walked over to pull the spear out of the dead bird, ejecting the blade as she did so, leaving it and the predator pinned to the tree, “You don’t have to die as often. But also never forget: Never attack first, never strike a creature down in anger, as long as you only use them to defend yourselves and those you love then I’m sure the balance of the Land is intact.”
Taran nodded, “Nature gave your predators claws, wings and speed, nature gave you smarts and language instead and using that you have learnt to defend yourselves and even out the field. Seinu believes that before the Horkers, the Not Friends invaded, that when you were living on the surface you all had ways to defend yourselves against predators and you lost that when they hurt the balance. Now we are just showing you an option.”
“I did it though,” De said as he accepted the spear back off Chantelle, staring at it, “I did it… I get to go home and tell Se that our daughter is with me and not… not feeding some predator.”
He was still trembling, his paw opening and closing around the spear as his other hand held onto his daughter who was still hiding under his fur. Several of the other bunnies closed in, offering him support, nuzzling up against him and chirping, passing congratulations, there was a slowly building sense of shock, excitement and eye opening understanding that they need not always be prey.
“I think we should take Cy back to the village now,” Taran said, “Lessons for today are over, let’s all head back.”
“Remember our words though,” Selenu said, “Never strike with your weapons in anger, never attack first.”
De nodded and took a deep breath, “Never first… unless it’s a Not Friend.”
“Well that goes without saying,” Selenu said with a smile, “I’d shoot them first myself, but come on, let’s go.”
Herding the group back towards the village the Avali fell back to walk beside her brother. Letting the group talk, tonight De would be a hero, the first bunny to stop a predator carrying off one of the little ones. It was a big milestone, a massive change in attitude. Switching from a species that was subject to the whim of nature and cruelty to being a civilised, sapient race who would defend their own. She hoped they’d take the lesson about not attacking first on board, they were not hunters like Avali, they did not need the meat to eat. Using these new skills to defend, to protect now that was a lesson she would keep repeating until they had to leave.
Sitting back on his stool Ki watched the drone repair bay hum to life as he turned it on. The large device hummed quietly as power ran through it and established connections to the other devices set up in the cave. The power regulator sent back an ok and the auto-miner made a soft roaring sound as it deployed the mining-drone which started questing with its cutting arms against the back wall of the cave, chewing through the rock and starting to sample the minerals present in the silicate wall.
“Ok it is working,” he watched the read-outs across his visor for a bit, leaning back and drumming his paws on his stomach happily as it did what it was designed to do, “Ifelse can you hear me?” he spoke into his communicator and the Ai chirped an affirmative, “I think I am all done here, the repair bay is online, the link with anti-predator net established, power crystals on-line and mineral collection beginning.”
“Excellent,” Ifelse said, "I am now handing control of the network to the new controller," Ki watched as several lights came on to indicate the non-sapient AI now had control of the network.
"That looks good," Ki said, "Integrity confirmed, auto-factory online, with this the net can self repair across the entire inhabited bunny region."
"Is one factory really enough?" Ifelse asked, "Four hundred square miles of land is quite a lot of land to cover."
"It should be enough, but I'll also install a backup on the opposite side of the protected area" Ki said, "The majority of the drones are centred around each bunny village, foraging parties rarely venture beyond half a day's travel and the net is strongest up to a day's travel out from each village." Ki checked the projections on his visor and ran his eyes over the maths again, "Travel between villages is rare, but bunnies with spears and the drone patrols should be enough to keep them safe. I'm also leaving beacons with each village, they know if they are journeying between villages to turn it on and wait, a drone escort will assemble and follow the beacon and the bunny group, it should be enough."
Ifelse hummed for a moment, "I concur, with this my predictions based off Chantelle's population modelling should reduce mortality rate from 70% to 23.7%."
"Not perfect," Ki sighed, then straightened up, "But a hell of a lot better than before. OK now can you get me a ride back to base? I'm miles from anywhere."
“I will let Taran know he is driving past," the AI said, "He can pick you up.”
“Perfect,” Ki smiled, “The snow is fucking deep after last nights snow storm.”
Ki did one final system check then logged off, walking out of the cave and waiting, watching the snow. It was the same cave the Arbolin’s used to live in, the ones that tried to eat Seinu. They wouldn’t be moving back now the anti-predator maintenance bay had been installed.
“Hi Ki,” Taran called as he brought the hover car to a rest in the snow, “Ifelse says you want a lift?”
“Yes please,” the black and white Avali clambered into the car next to his brother, “The snow in some of these drifts is deeper than me, I sank into one earlier and had to dig my way out.”
Taran laughed, “Ifelse said you’ve been working on this thing all day, you hungry?” he powered up the car and started to drift across the snow toward their base camp, “You should have come in for lunch you missed it, we were all there.”
“Oh,” Ki blushed, ears folding back as his stomach growled, “Well I would have, I meant to, I wasn’t avoiding it I promise, I was just so close to getting all the systems integrated I didn’t want to lose the flow.”
Taran gave him a look then grinned widely, “I am teasing Ki, we know, are you hungry?” he reached out and opened a compartment, pulling out a small jar, “We have some candy, this’ll tide you over until we get back.”
Ki perked up and accepted the jar, “It’ll do for a snack,” he unscrewed the lid and selected a couple, munching on them as the hover car sped over the snow, kicking up a wall of fresh powder in its wake, “Thanks, I didn’t realise how long I’d been working, I am a bit starving.”
Taran smiled and then focused on dodging around a couple of trees, “So how long will this system last?”
“It should be capable of keeping the anti-predator system running with minimal interference for at least five years or so,” Ki said as he licked his fingers clean, “It’ll need some maintenance that is beyond the bunnies current skill level, but even if we aren’t back here and the Illuminate hasn’t sent any help I can give the specs to… what’s his name? Rowi? They will be here to visit the family of the bunny from their band, he should be able to run a basic check up so it’ll keep running.”
“Awesome,” Taran smiled and helped himself to a piece of candy as well, “Seinu will be pleased, without you we’d never have been able to build something like this and extend the net to cover every village, so thank you.”
Ki blushed and his ears perked up, “It… it was my pleasure, I wanna keep them safe, I am sure you guys could have built something with Ifelse’s help.”
Taran gave him a look then reached out a hand to hold his arm gently, “No, we couldn’t, none of us have your mechanical skills, this wouldn’t be possible without you bro.”
Ki nodded shyly, still unsure about receiving praise like this, at feeling like he was making a difference, of finding his place in the pack. He chirped in thanks and stuffed another piece of candy in his jaws to avoid having to respond. It really did feel good to belong.
Selenu adjusted the course of the new passenger shuttle and brought them in under the line of ancient, grey hulled cargo ships that were queuing up in a line just ahead of the Odyssey’s lower hull. She fired the thrusters to spin the ship upside down and watched as the forward hatch of the Odyssey irised open.
“It sort of looks like you are about to eat them,” she said to Ifelse, the AI’s avatar was standing on a pedestal at the front of the passenger shuttle’s cockpit, nestled between the two chairs.
“I am in a way,” Ifelse chuckled as a series of drones surrounded the lead cargo ship and started to guide them into the open bay at the front of the Odyssey, “It’s the same principle as when you feed me a small asteroid, I will tear it apart, feed the materials into my storage bays then churn out all the parts for another passenger shuttle in the nano-factory.”
“And you are sure there is enough material for Seinu’s plan?”
“Certainly,” Ifelse replied, “With these five ships I can make another three shuttles. Once they are registered I can set them up under Avali transit authority flags running non-sapient AI. They can fly back and forth between here and Vartaniki Station in a four shuttle loop,” the AI jackub tilted their head “This will provide cover across the bunny occupied territory, two shuttles flying there, two coming back creating a relay.”
“I thought there were ten cargo shuttles running back and forth from the planet to nearby stations?”
“There were,” Ifelse said, “I ate two already, to make that shuttle you are flying now, these five are the only ones remaining in orbit.”
Selenu turned her head away from the spectacle and frowned at the AI who ran his ship, “And what about the ones not in orbit, Ifelse?”
“Oh,” they chirped and looked adorable, magenta head-feathers perking up in an adorable crest, “Well there were three that came and went from the bunny territory, Firi had me park them all in a clearing she’d picked.”
Selenu frowned, “Dare I ask why?”
“I don’t know,” Ifelse said cheerfully, “But she did check out a case of HG-6R Rocket launchers and three cases of ammo.”
Selenu groaned and thumped her head against the console, “Firi….”
"Why are we out here Firi?" Thiln asked curiously as he trudged through the snow after the yellow and white avali, "This is a long way from our usual foraging grounds, there is nothing out here."
"Not true," Firi chirped and grinned at Thiln and the four other bunnies she'd brought with her. The copper furred twins Cri and Cal, Fi and Rayen, her original bunny students, "Up ahead is where the Horker ship lands."
“Oh,” Thiln frowned and pushed back his hat a bit, “I remember, we try to avoid it… I know a couple times one of us have gotten on board of one of these and we never saw them again but it is not something anyone does… space is… space was bad.”
Firi pushed aside a spray of ferns and ordered the drone she had brought to move out and drop the boxes they were carrying on the snow. She glanced at the five bunnies she’d brought with her and reached down to ruffle Thiln’s head fur and pointed across the clearing at where three ships were parked. Thiln peered over at them, noting how crude and broken they looked compared to the sleek Avali shuttle parked at the base camp. The outside of the Not Friend ships looked all scuffed and the joints between panels had flakes and streaks of dirt, grime and rust on them.
"So, you remember when the Not Friends tried to land?" There were some uneasy murmurs of yes, “Well, we learned something terrible. They had a plan for these ships. Right now they fly back and forth between a few local space stations; trading points where bunnies who are brave and go to space can meet people to help them get used to space and its dangers.”
She pointed, “However, the Horkers who ran away were going to change these ships so they’d carry bunnies straight to their home world so they could eat the bunnies who were trying to explore space.”
Thiln stared at Firi in horror, “No!” he said, “No that… no!”
“That is exactly the reason why we’re here. Listen to me.” Suddenly her voice was extremely serious. She unlatched one of the boxes and pushed the lid open, “We are going to replace them with our own ships. These will go along a safe route from now and forever. If any bunnies ever board them, they will be taken to a safe space station and will also teach you the basics about going there, like translators, protection packs and some other things you need during the journey.”
She lifted a long tube-like device of white metal out of the case and set it down on the snow. “However, these ships you see there belonged to these goddamn Not Friends… and we don’t want any of their stuff here, right?
The bunnies nodded and agreed. Thiln tilted his head, watching Firi take something out of another crate, the long black oblong was pushed inside the longer tube and then she nodded to the remaining box.
“I thought we’d take some time to enjoy destroying them, you’re my most trusted bunnies,” she smiled wide, showing off her fangs, “I brought your chain-guns, do you want to blow up some Not Friend shit?”
Thiln chirped and hurried to the box, pushing the lid off and soon enough he had the large, heavy gun out and with the aid of Rayen loaded it just as Firi had shown him. The twins had their gun loaded and Fi was bouncing up and down excitedly, chirping as she watched and waited for her turn.
“So,” Firi said, “I want you all to just open fire when I say it. This will be good practice and remember: These are only for use in super dire emergencies like if actual Horker’s land on the planet and there are no Avali here.”
“Yes Firi,” Thiln said and after checking the twins were ready swung the gun around. Firi counted to three, and bracing himself the sandy coloured bunnies pulled the trigger and let themselves rock gently as the gun started to spin and then spat bullets at the decrepit ship. First one bullet per second. Then two. Then four. Second by second the gun span faster and the bullets slammed into the ancient Horker machines. Within thirty seconds the bullets were spitting out of the gun at an incredible rate of 30 bullets per second, and the vibration was making Thiln’s paws go numb.
Within a minute the gun was up to gull speed and the bullets slowly reduced the rusty outerhull shielding into a mess of tiny, shredded holes. The belts feeding the guns with ammunition ran out and the bunnies let the barrel dip, sinking it into the snow where it hissed and melted as the cherry red end of the barrels cooled.
“Fuck you Not Friends,” Rayen chirped, bouncing up and down, “I want a go, can I have a go miss Firi?”
“Nope, but come with me”. Firi walked back and the bunnies followed her. After they were around 500 metres away. Firi unrolled a strip of black metal that hummed and extruded a shimmering cyan field, a forcefield that rose up about eight feet, forming a curving wall between the bunnies and the ship.
“Ok now everyone stays behind this field, NO ONE is to go outside of it without permission,” She then started to hand out headsets, similar to the one being worn by Sher in the concert they had watched some months ago. However, they weren’t made with music in mind. Firi told them that “These are made to reduce your hearing ability, to protect your ears. These are very dangerous to use here in the open because you wouldn’t be able to hear any predators, but in this case it’s okay because I’m here.”
After the bunnies put them on, she paused to take a photo of them all with her own visor. It was a good image, a bunch of bunnies in visors holding chain guns. Satisfied that everyone had the ear defenders on properly she handed Rayen one of the tubes she’d been working on. She had unpacked five more whilst everyone used up all the chain-gun ammo, “You can use this now.”
The avali knelt down and showed the bunny how to balance it on one shoulder and hold it by the two large handles, “Now, the cone like end points at the ship and now… spread your legs, brace yourself because this will push you back very strongly, and push the button.”
Rayen nodded, shifted her stance a little and pressed the button. The tube went “WHOOSH” and the black object Firi had loaded inside leapt out at speed, screaming and spitting white fire from the end facing toward them. It somehow passed through the forcefield as if it wasn’t there and travelled ahead, heading toward some trees, but suddenly it seemed to change directions and went straight to the ship. The rocket slammed into it, tearing through the hull that the chainguns had riddled with bullet holes, lodged in the rusty interior then exploded. The entire ship went up in a cascade of bright white fire and smoke and made a massive booming noise that left Thiln’s ears ringing even while wearing the sound dampening headsets. Some of the ship pieces hit the blue forcefield wall so fast they shattered into smaller pieces before falling to the ground. Some small pieces even flew above the bunnies, falling behind them. Fragments of the explosion ended not only on the floor, but also stuck to nearby trees.
Shaking his head Thiln pushed his hat back and stared at the smoking ruin of the ship, “I want one of those!” he breathed out eventually, “That… that… FUCK YOU Not Friends!” He bounced up and down alongside the others, “Yes… that… that was good Firi!”
She laughed, “I am glad I taught you that word!” she continued smiling. “Now I can’t leave you any of these, they are way too dangerous, but there are enough rockets for one each, we can blow these ships to bits so they will never get the chance to harm any bunny.”
Thiln nodded and paid close attention as Firi re-loaded Rayen’s launcher then handed out the others. Soon enough they were all standing in a row, each bunny and the Avali balancing a launcher on their shoulder as she counted down.
“Five! Four, Three, Two, Fuck you Not Friends!”
“FUCK YOU!!” The five bunnies shouted in unison and fired their rockets. The three ships vanished in an expanding white cloud of light, noise and fire! It felt good to know how to swear, to have a way to express the emotion none of them had really had a place for before.
After the light show ended, they saw the fragments, the ground outside their forcefield was littered with chunks of metal and twisted bits of wire. The local trees were also peppered with debris and a large rock that had been between them and the ships was now several chunks of rock mixed in with all the metal debris. There was even the corpse of a predator that had been stalking them, its head vertically sliced in two by the sheer force and speed of a single big sized sharp metal shard.
“Well done everyone,” Firi congratulated them with a smile, proud of her little team. Bunnies would never be so gullible as to trust a Horker or any Alien that meant them harm again!
Sitting on a rock waiting for a group of bunnies to arrive, Seinu looked around the village, letting his long bunny tail swish back and forth idly. It had been about four months since he had made his decision to interfere and showed the bunnies the MMF Recording. Things had been changing slowly but surely with the instigation of practical skills training and other useful abilities. The hydroponic trays were full of flowering shrubs, basic staples that Chantelle said were the best types of fruit, grass or leaf to supplement the usual foraging parties as well as medicinal herbs for bunnies carrying eggs.
They had also taught the bunnies how to repair the various devices, how to load materials into the nano-lathes they had set up and in one of the empty caves they were now growing Avali crystals in the dark. It was a delicate, tricky, tiring job to grow them in basic crystal trays without a lot of the more sophisticated tech the Avali used these days to automate the process but the bunnies learnt quickly and eagerly. They had also shown the bunnies basic sewing, the hat-makers were ecstatic with their new needles and threads and methods for hat making. Basic food-prep as well, nothing fancy or that required fire but Chantelle and Ki had been showing them how to prepare certain leaves to make them easier to digest so bunnies could get more nutrition from them. Of course there had been a few complications, some arguments about what did and did not constitute a practical skill and some social issues Seinu had not been prepared for or expecting after being so welcomed into the village society.
Rubbing his muzzle he glanced around to check Suz wasn’t around, she had decided Seinu would make a good mate. Over the past three months she’d been courting him which had been a bit of an eye opener. With his body programmed to act like a natural bunny he had all the right instincts to want to respond to her attempts to attract him to be her mate, but so far he had been resisting. There had been a couple of incidents lately where he was sorely tempted, but bunnies mated for life; he could hardly go and mate with her then run off back to the stars in a couple of months.
It had helped that the twins had several friends who were also interested in Suz so they had been trying to woo her as well. She was a very happy bunny to have a whole raft of suitors but even so she still wanted Seinu. Currently, however, there was no sign of her and he bounced up as he saw Selenu walking over carrying her harp and a bunch of tech, mostly cables under one arm.
“Hi bro,” she stopped and ruffled Seinu’s hair, “How are you today?”
“Doing ok,” Seinu chirped, “I am off to a village nine days to the south of here. We’re taking the hover car so we should be there in about four hours. We are going to deliver a spear lathe and drop off a couple of bunnies who Firi says are ready to start teaching others how to use spears.”
“That’s a long way out,” Selenu frowned, “Are we sure it is safe?”
“I will have the twins with me and Ki, I’ll be fine Sel,” Seinu replied confidently, “We have to spread the knowledge of spears beyond Tri’s village. Bunnies would share the knowledge anyway, but if we target the villages farthest from here it’ll spread to other villages quicker.”
Selenu nodded, “Ok, why are you going though?”
Seinu spotted Cri approaching and leant up to hug Selenu, “This is the village Sher is from, they have some Avali anti-predator tech already. It’ll be easier if one of us is there. I got the specs of what Sawi’s pack left behind, and I want to take a look at it.”
“Well ok,” Selenu sighed, she was still nervous about Seinu heading off but if he had company she was trying to relax, “Just take care ok bro?”
“I will, what are you up to today?” he eyed the tangle of cables, “What’s all this for?”
“Distortion pedal,” Selenu held it up and let it wave back and forth, “The kids I am teaching the harp too are all very good students but they constantly complain it isn’t the same sound as Sher’s guitar.”
The lime avali plucked one of the strings of his harp, “I can do some good and fun things with this, make the harp sound almost as good as Sher’s guitar, I am going to show them what is possible, but only if they apply themselves and learn the basic, unmodified harp first.”
Seinu chuckled. While they had focused only on teaching practical skills, they had agreed that teaching some arts would be good, particularly music, given how their own language felt more like a song than anything, so they added that to the list of things to teach, and so far it had been successful.
“Well that is great sis! I am glad at least two of us know how to play an instrument,” Selenu pulled a face and Seinu giggled. His sister made a big deal about teaching bunnies the harp, how it was a sacred Avali instrument that should be treated with respect but over the past several months she’d slowly but surely come to love teaching her bunny group how to play, her biggest complaint these days was about Firi and the group she was teaching to play the drums, “I am sure they are going to love it,” Seinu chirped, “I will stick to singing.”
“Seinu we are ready,” Cri said as he arrived, “We better go soon, Suz is looking for you, if we aren’t quick she’ll try to come with us.”
“Oh lord,” Seinu chirped, “Ok by Selenu I need to go before she tries to take me on a tour of the caverns again!” Seinu hurried off with Cri and shook his head, “Did you hear what she did yesterday?”
“She ambushed you and Cal whilst he was showing you that old tunnel where we killed a Trapdoor Gourd,” the copper bunny chuckled, “She’s pretty determined you are going to mate with her.”
Seinu shook his head and sighed, “I was impressed, at the way you tunnelled up under the plant to cut its roots. The tunnel was dead and blackened from the acid but the gourd was killed and stopped being a threat so near the village,” he sighed, “I wanted to ask Cal more questions about how you destroyed it but then Suz turned up and god I thought my nose was sensitive but she smelt… she smelt good!”
Cri laughed, “She’s pretty infatuated with you Seinu, you know you could do worse in a bunny mate then Suz.”
Seinu groaned, “Not you too! Cal said that too, I can’t mate with her. I am off to space again in a month or so, what am I going to do, leave her behind? Take her to space… no it is better if I just avoid her.”
“Well that’s the plan, Taz is determined to convince her to mate with him instead so hopefully he can distract her.”
“I hope so Cri,” he sighed and started back out of the village, scampering up the exit tunnel on all fours, “We still have a lot to share and teach and I can’t keep being distracted by this.”
Don’t worry, Taz will distract her whilst we are away at Seventeen Days village, if you aren’t around to tempt her she is liable to start to pay attention to him, it might be all settled by the time we get back.”
“I hope so,” Seinu laughed and scampered out of the tunnel entrance and started for the Avali hover car parked nearby, “If not I may go hide up on the Odyssey for a few days, let’s go we have bunnies to teach.”
Cri laughed and climbed aboard after him, "No hiding, but don't worry by the time we get back I am pretty sure it'll all be sorted."
Seinu smiled and settled in behind the controls and waited for the others. It felt surreal, in less then a month they'd be leaving, returning to Avalon. But after seven months they had changed the bunny world for the better. They'd given a dying society the push it needed and he'd be making a very strong case to send an uplift pack to finish the job...
The bunnies deserved all the help they could get, and he was going to do anything he could to give it to them.