The Intergalatical Zoo of Alien Life.

[LandiKirk]

The Intergalatical Zoo of Alien Life. Closed for Tired fingers and myself

The world is called Yuza III and is inhabited by the Yuza.
The Yuza are blue grey in color standing between four to seven feet tall. Large bulging eyes of silver that disguises their face. They are human like with two arms and two legs but their other features are hidden by white robes of silky looking material.

They decided to educate the children of their species by creating a zoo and began collecting creatures from other worlds. During their pursuit they discovered several unusual spacecrafts that crashed on their world.

They discovered creatures called Humans had been living here for nearly fifty years. What a perfect species for the zoo. So they began scanning the jungles and came across a male out hunting for another creature. So they did what any good hunter would do. Zapped him with a stunning blast of light and move him to the zoo.

The male had been living in the selected enclosure for nearly a month and was given the opportunity to hunt for food. They gave him bigger beasts to hunt unaware that some of the creatures that was sharing the enclosure was a bigger threat to the Male's existence.

Later they changed the dimensions of the enclosure giving him a place to be safe, his own cave even though it wasn't his usual living space.

The enclosure is a crescent moon shaped exhibit was much larger than the typical enclosure back on Earth, though, with the longer, outside curve of the crescent almost 100 yards in length. The inner curve of the crescent was a tall, realistic looking cliff of sedimentary rock with a shallow cave at its bottom.

A waterfall fell from high above, spilling into the first of a trio of pools that themselves were connected by a stream. The water eventually descended to a wet lands at the base of the tall outer wall, at the top of which -- standing behind a railing and, unbeknownst to the Male below is ann invisible security shield -- were several hundred Yuza visitors..

A week ago the hunters found another village and caught another specimen and released it into the Male's side of the enclosure

 

[TiredFingers]

OOC: Regarding the pics:

• Imagine Hunter's bow as being hand crafted from a tree sapling as opposed to obviously being factory made.
• Imagine Yuza in loose fitting, ankle length, flowing white robes, which is their standard outdoor wear in public places. (Religious? Cultural? We don't know yet and might never.)
• And this is Gaia. The original image hot link I used failed; you will see it several times in the story because I'm not gonig to find them all and change them out. When you want to look at a beautiful naked woman, just come back to this link. (A Lit writing partner of mine saved it to her Imgur account. Hopefully she won't ever delete it; I don't have an Imgur account.)

The people of his village knew him as Hunter. He had another name, of course; a normal Human name. But it had been so long since anyone had called him it, he barely remembered it himself.

Back in the depth of the equatorial continent's rainforest -- a jungle four times as large as Earth Amazon had ever been -- Hunter had earned his name by being just that, a hunter. Almost from the time he'd been able to walk he's been catching and/or killing animals to eat their meat, make tools from their innards, bones, or horns, and provide hides and furs to the females of the village to be made into clothing, blankets, containers, and more.

He was the best at what he did -- stalking, tracking, trapping, and killing -- because he was more aware of his surroundings than most of the animals that lived within it. That, of course, was ironic since Human Beings weren't even native to Yuza III. They'd been here such a short time that Hunter's community included 3 of the original 16 settlers who'd crash landed here 50 some years ago.

Hunter didn't know anything about Earth. Anything! The Elders of his village had made the conscious decision in those first months on Yuza III to hide the fact that Humans had come from another world. They knew the dangers that this unknown, unfamiliar planet presented to them, and they'd decided that sharing a history of a second world -- even the Human race's home world -- simply wasn't information that was going to help their people stay alive here.

So, all that had come before Yuza was to be forgotten; life was to be restarted here.

And restart it did, for Hunter and his ancestors. The Elders had had an easy time hiding the existence of the shuttle: it had landed in a deep section of swamp 90 kilometers from where the survivors eventually built their village. They disposed of their gear a little bit at a time, as they learned to live off the land. There hadn't been a single item from Earth in Hunter's village since before his own mother's birth.

And to ensure that their people never wandered so far as to be discovered by the Yuza, the Elders had created a back story of danger: beyond the mountains and across the river that, together, encircled their village and its roughly 500 meter diameter safe zone were poisonous insects that -- if they were to sting -- could kill a man in less than 10 seconds.

Ironically, it was an entirely different poisonous animal that would lead to Hunter being here in this zoo exhibit today. He'd been hunting at the very edge of the safe zone when an amphibian similar to dart frogs of Earth's Amazon landed on his back. Before Hunter realized it was there and got it off of him, his skin had already soaked in a nearly fatal dose of the animals toxic excretions. For nearly three days, he wandered the jungle in a hallucinogenic daze … moving steadily away from the village. He regained his senses just in time to be trapped by the Yuza who -- ironically -- had discovered his community's long lost shuttle years earlier and begun a search for those who had been on it.

Hunter was more surprised by the Yuza than they were of him. They'd known for whom they'd been looking; there had been enough preserved information on the shuttle to tell them they were looking for a bipedal being similar to but at the same time very different than them. Plus, the Yuza had been collecting alien species from other star systems for generations. The fact that they'd found one on their own planet had been an amazing discovery at the time.

But Hunter had had no idea that there would be someone like the Yuza on what he thought was his people's planet. Every time they opened the gate to his cage to provide him with food or other resources, he hurried to the back of the cage, certain that they were going to harm him … or even eat him.

Although he couldn't see it from within his concrete and steel cage, he was sure that he'd been here for at least One Moon. (Hunter didn't know it, of course, but Earth and Yuza III were very similar in many respects, astronomically: although Yuza had half-again the diameter of Earth, it had roughly the same land-to-ocean ratio, a slightly longer day at 30 hours, an also slightly longer year of 400 days, and a slightly larger moon that circled the planet every 30 days.) During that month, his keepers had presented him with a vast variety of food items -- plants and animals, the latter both dead and living -- in an effort to learn about his diet and his preference for being provided meat or killing it himself. After he'd very nearly been killed himself by a full size boar -- 360 pounds of mean ass, big tusked animal -- his keepers had restrained themselves in their presenting such dangerous beasts.

They'd also given him wood with which he built a fire; long limbs to see if he would build, which he did (creating a drying rack over the fire for the meat of the animals he killed); and other items which he used or ignored, depending upon their value to him.

Then, four days ago, Hunter awoke in the enclosure in which the Yuza planned to exhibit him. He didn't understand how he got here; he didn't know that his water had been drugged the day before. He remained in the back of a small cave for the first couple of hours, fearful of yet another incredible change in his circumstances.

Finally, he ventured out of the cave and into the light of the late morning. It was fairly natural in design, with dirt, rocks, water, trees, shrubs, cliffs, wetlands, and more. It was too open for Hunter's tastes, though. His village was hidden within a thick rainforest, and only down by the river could one get a clear look of the sky for more than just a few degrees of view.

As natural and large as it was, though, it was still a cage, Hunter understood. A tall cliff rose above and behind him, and out before him was a wetland pool that had a wall rising nearly straight upwards to a railing … from which hundreds of Yuza were watching him. It was shocking to see so many of these strange beings staring and pointing and making gestures and sounds, apparently because of him. They were obviously here to see him, but why? Hunter didn't know what a zoo was! He'd never been raised with such a concept. Hell, he didn't even know what a cage was; his people didn't cage animals for domestication, let alone their own people.

Hunter was frantic to find a way out of the enclosure and spent the first day investigating every little bit that was accessible to him. He tried to climb the cliff, only to find that at about twice his height a shock feeling -- like the river eels back home -- caused his muscles to spasm; he had to descend, less he fall and hurt himself. He tried to find a way out in the crescent wet lands, swimming to its depths, looking for an underwater cave. No luck there either.

He slinked back to the cave again and refused to leave it for three days. Then today, he heard a strange metal-on-metal sound beyond his cave, and a moment later the Yuza crowd shifted their attention toward the source of that sound. He was hesitant to go outside; it might be another large boar, and when he'd been moved, Hunter's keepers had taken his bow and arrow and only left him with his bone knife.

But eventually, he crept out, hunching down and peeking through the trees and over the rocks. And suddenly he saw what the aliens saw...

A human female!

Hunter's eyes widen in shock, and for more reasons than one. First, he simply hadn't expected company. Second, she dressed in little more than what on Earth they'd called butt flap. In Hunter's village, women began containing their bosom in cloth, fur, and/or hide when they reached breeding age, and this female -- while young -- was definitely a few years into her adult age.

But the third thing that shocked Hunter was that he didn't recognize her. She wasn't from his village. Which meant … what? Was she from another village? Were there other villages of Humans on this planet? Hunter just stood in place behind a large boulder for a couple of minutes staring at the female. She eventually looked away from the Yuza crowd that had been his focus that first day and spotted him. Hunter ducked a bit, as if fearful of being spotted. Actually … he was! He didn't fear her like a full grown boar, but … well … he just didn't understand where she could have come from or why she was here!

Eventually, he stood a bit taller (though still crouched a bit, as if ready for fight or flight) and began walking her way slowly toward her. It was only when her gaze fell to his bone blade that Hunter realized he'd instinctively pulled it out. He slipped it into the scabbard he'd made from the dead boar's hide and held his hands up and out in what on Earth would have been a casually playful surrender gesture.

When they were about 20 meters apart, he spoke to her. "I am Hunter."

It was all he said; he didn't know what else he was supposed to say.

 

[LandiKirk]

Many people of her tribe told stories of the SkyWalkers. The place their ancestors lived after the shell of existence passed on. It was said that sometimes an ancestor would come to your dreams and reveal.many things.

So when the spaceships came down into the valley the people would hide from this strange revelation since it didnt match the stories they had been told.

Gaia was working in the gardens on a hill when the Yuza found her. What a wonderful find and addition to the zoo. So she was spirited away from her tribe leaving behind her dress and basket of maize. The tribe mourned over the loss believing Gaia had become the meal.of one of the many dangers that existed outside the walls of her village.

In the three days of transport, Gaia was poked, prodded, shaven of most of her body hair, and examined. During all these tests they discovered Gaia was a female. healthy, and promising of a good companion for the male already in the enclosure.

Finally the day came and Gaia was dropped down a tube into the enclosure. The zoo was packed as patrons wanted to see what the male.would do with his new playmate.

Gaia crotches down and looks around. Nothing seems familiar to her as she turns to her left hearing the sound of water. Her dark hair cascades over her shoulders and barely covers her large breasts. Her skin is the reddish brown shade much like a brick and makes her look extremely attractive and the fact that she wore nothing was surprising

Then something caught her caramel eyes. It was another person or she thought it was.

"Weeenn?" She said using the name of her Father. Instead of an answer it ducked. Gaia remained still just in case it was something bad. This patience paid off as it stood tall and came closer then finally spoke.

I am Hunter.

Gaia caught on that he was telling her his name so she repeated it. "Hon tteer.." Flashing a soft smile understanding he was a male and males were protectors. "Mee Ga I ah"

Now Gaia looked up and saw the strange creatures watching them. This made her feel uneasy and she made a low guttural growl sinking low and moving behind Hunter for safety.

It was pretty apparent she didnt like the Yuza big or small

 

[TiredFingers]

"Hon tteer," the female responded to Hunter's introduction, adding, "Mee Ga I ah"

She spoke oddly, or at least in Hunter's opinion she did. He couldn't know that on the transport, there had been one Common Tongue used by crew and settlers alike but that many individuals had also brought with them the languages and accents of their own cultures and nations. His Tribe, for example, had spoken the Common Tongue, but of the 16 survivors of the shuttle crash, the majority of them had also spoken a second language and a pair of related dialects. It meant that now, here, the two of them understood one another well enough to communicate but, at times, it would be with difficulty.

Hunter watched Gaia for a moment as she studied the aliens high above them beyond the railing. He could see that she didn't care for them any more than he did. Was she afraid they were going to eat her, as he had believed for those first many days?

"Come," he said simply, expanding with more detail as he backed up and gestured her forward. "Come with me. I have a place to hide."

He headed back toward the cave, hoping she would follow. Hunter thought they would have privacy there in his cave; the opening was narrower than his outstretched arms and required him to bend a bit not to hit his head. Ironically, he'd been more in view for the crowd in the cave than anywhere else because of 8 cameras hidden in the fake rock walls that displayed him on two dozen cameras in the viewing area above. No sooner had he disappeared into the cave over the past 3 days then the crowd turned to watch him on the monitors on the wall behind them.

 

[LandiKirk]

It wasn't his words but the body language that made Gaia pay attention.

"Come,"

Gaia started to follow Hunter away from the gawking faces.

"Come with me. I have a place to hide."

Gaia repeated his last words slowly " pa lay sss ta high dah"

She followed him to the cave. It reminded her of her child years when the people hid in caves to hide from the long toothed boar that would savagely attack their village in the gathering season.

Once within safety Gaia studied Hunter more. He was fairer skinned then she was and found it odd. He was also bare chested which only females were bare topped in her tribe. Gaia moved closer and lightly pressed her right hand on his chest. His skin felt strange compared to her brothers but it still was a Braves chest.. only one other way to confirm that Hunter was a protector was the inner leg

So Gaia lowered her hand and moved his loincloth and touched his manroot. Touching it gently with interst to what its purpose was. The she released it and looked down at her soft clean trimmed mound. There was no skin that stood proudly before her belly so must mean they are different by sex but the same by the shape and heartbeat

In her innocent understanding she would let him know her place in this new tribe she found herself in. "Hon tteerr pro tock tor. Ga i ah gadders"

 

[TiredFingers]

Gaia spoke, "Pa lay sss ta high dah."

Hunter was perplexed for a moment, until he realized she had been repeating his own words. He couldn't help but smile with humor; she reminded Hunter of babies learning to speak, and yet he knew that he Gaia likely thought the same thing about him.

Once they were in what he thought was the privacy of his cave, Hunter took a moment to better study Gaia. Back on Earth, some people would have called him a white man. Most of the 16 original Elders of his village -- the shuttle crash survivors -- had been fair skinned people of European descent. This hadn't been by design or intention; it had been totally random and coincidental.

Had a similar coincidence of opposite effect caused Gaia's skin to be so naturally dark? Out in the enclosure, with the sun basking upon her wonderful brownness, she'd almost had a reddish glow to her. Had the survivors of her ancestors' shuttle included many of what those same Earth folk would have called the red man? Had many or most of her ancestors been Indigenous North Americans, what in the 15th century had been mistakenly called Indians by the European adventurers who discovered the New World? (As if a continent filled with people could be discovered!).

Hunter couldn't know any of this, could he? He had no knowledge of Earth, let alone of the races and peoples who had and -- maybe -- still did inhabit that dying planet. All Hunter knew about Gaia and her skin color was that it was incredibly beautiful. He was in awe of her for reasons that were obvious and not so much so at the same time.

Gaia must have been having similar thoughts about Hunter, too. She stepped up close and laid a hand upon Hunter's chest. She seemed to be examining his skin. Maybe she thought he was painted? Sometimes for ceremonies, his people decorated their bodies with colors from the jungle and river: grays and whites, greens and browns.

A chill ran over his body as her fingertips investigated the curves of his muscular chest and belly. He was intrigued by her interest; he said nothing, only watching her eyes as she surveyed him. Then, Gaia shocked Hunter by reaching to his groin, beyond the animal hide flap hiding his crotch, and cupped his manhood. His eyes widened and his mouth fell open. He flinched a bit but otherwise didn't back off, let alone pull her hand away. After a moment, she pulled her hand back ... just as his already somewhat attentive cock began to swell toward full stiffness.

"Hon tteerr pro tock tor," she said in her unique dialect. "Ga i ah gadders."

Hunter didn't immediately respond; his attention was on the sudden discomfort his erection was causing within the tightly fitting undergarment containing his manhood behind the flap. Without any self-conscious thought, he reached down to rearrange his growth to a more comfortable position.

"Gadders...?" he asked. "I do not understand gadders...?"

He waited to see if she would explain. Once she'd done so, Hunter opened his mouth to reply -- only to be interrupted by a very familiar and somewhat startling snorting sound. Without having to think, he grasped Gaia and rushed her to the back of the 8 meter deep cave, instructing her, "Stay safe here."

Pulling his bone knife and snatching up a spear he'd made from a limb he'd found in the enclosure -- thanks to the keepers, of course -- Hunter rushed to the front of the cave, then out of it. Almost immediately, he saw what he'd expected to find: a full grown, adult male boar. Where had it come from? It hadn't been here earlier; Hunter had fully searched the enclosure and knew where every ant hill, termite mound, and rodent hole was located, so he wouldn't have missed a 200 kilogram, ferocious, fanged pig.

"Here! Here!" he hollered at the animal, slamming the tip of the spear on a large boulder after he'd moved away from the cave's entrance. He got the boar's attention, turned, and ran for a fallen tree that led to a narrow ledge along the fake back cliff wall. The boar ran his way, snorting as it jerked its head -- and sharp tusks -- up and down in an effort to instill fear. Once Hunter had turned to face the animal, he again taunted, "Here! Come here!"

The boar navigated around the trunk of the tree, looking for a way to get to Hunter, then lifted its feet up onto the tree's inclined surface. In doing so, the beast's view of the Human was blocked by a limb and its thick foliage. In a flash, Hunter leaped to the ground on the opposite side of the tree, rolled underneath it to the big pig's side, and -- still laying on the ground -- stabbed the spear upwards right into the boar's rib cage.

The animal reacted with a great squeal and tried to drop its feet to the ground. Big mistake: Hunter had wedged his end of the spear into the dirt, and as the beast dropped, it only drove the weapon deeper into its torso. It rolled to its side, squealing and twitching for almost a minute. Hunter could have sunk his bone knife into the pig's neck, but that had seemed overkill. The animal was dying; the threat was gone.

Hunter brushed the obvious dirt and debris from his body, looked for Gaia to ensure she was safe … and only then did he realize that the viewing gallery of Yuza zoo goers had gone crazy with noise.

 

[LandiKirk]

Gadders...?" he asked. "I do not understand gadders...?"

Gaia looks around the cave and began picking up small stones.
"mee gadder" then she looks back at him hoping he understood her now.

Then a strange noise came from outside the arch of the doorway. Hunter did what any protector would do. He pulled her to safety and then went to deal with the enemy.

"Stay safe here." was his command and Gaia obeyed. She remained in the cave and waited for his call or return.

Gaia heard another snort from the archway. She froze in fear as her mind pictured the crazed beast from home. It was a large hairy razorback hog that killed for sheer ease. Its large horns could impale its victims and the beast could run with its prize to never be seen again.

Gaia heard Hunter call "Here! Here!"

She slowly moved to the opening and watched in awe as Hunter stood against this beast. Her heart swelled with pride as Hunter lured the beast away from the cave. She could hear him taunt the beast so it made the wrong move and he could kill it to feed them both.

The boar ran his way, snorting as it jerked its head -- and sharp tusks -- up and down in an effort to instill fear. Once Hunter had turned to face the animal, he again taunted, "Here! Come here!"

In moments Gaia heard the beast's death cry. It was loud and painful squeals that made Gaia cry for the creature. To drown out the noise Gaia began to thank the SkyWalkers for sending them meat to eat and bones to make tools. She thanked them for helping Hunter make the kill with respect to the life given and making him a good protector and provider.

When Gaia saw Hunter stand up and wipe the battle from his body. She smiles and waits for him to call for her. Quickly she looks for something that will cut the skin and meat Gaia found a sharp stone and brought with her to the opening.

When he waves she takes the stone and goes to the beast. Kneeling down next to the head she examines the tusks and teeth. They would make good knives and warriors vest.

Gaia took her stone and began to cut at the neck. It was slow going and Gaia had wished she had a knife from home. Gaia looks to Hunter and asks "Hon tteer, yaoo hav nif?"

She gets a look and moves her hand in a cutting motion and smiles as Hunter lent her the knife. Now her work is more steady. First she cuts off the head then with help from Hunter turns the beast on its side and starts cutting the fur from the body. Her intention is to take off the whole skin in one piece but its hide is harder to peel off from the bones and muscles.

Gaia stopped cutting the hide and began to cut the meat from the opened side. A liver, the stomach , innards, sinew, soft bones, kidneys, and meat from the ribs and leg.was her prize before the light of day began to fade.

Realizing she wouldn't be done with her work. Gaia decided to bring it back to the cave. She gives Hunter his knife back after she cleaned away the blood and meat bits that clung to the blade. Then she found two limbs about the same length this would work for her plans. She looped the legs over the poles and placed the meat inside the cavaity and stood between the poles to drag the carcass back to the cave.

 

[TiredFingers]

Hunter helped Gaia by providing the muscle necessary to do such things as pop the beast's shoulder joints free and cut through the thickest sections of spinal column. Other than that, though, he was content to hold this or pull that as she directed him. It was unusual for him to just watch the slaughtering of such an animal; in his village, the disassembly of this large a prey animal was man's work. It made Hunter wonder what other differences he would find existed between their two distantly related peoples.

One thing the women of Gaia's community and the women of his had was gathering, or as Gaia had put it gadder. Back home in the rainforest, foraging was almost exclusively for the females, young and old. Oh, the male toddlers tried to help, of course, but often they presented more work to their mothers than they did benefit.

"Where are you from, Gaia?" Hunter asked after they'd taken a large section of the carcass back to the opening of the cave. He began feeding the still-hot coals of the dead fire, preparing it for smoking the vast majority of the meat as he continued, "My village, from the river, we can see a mountain with three peaks. We call it the Matriarchs. Can you see it from your village?"

Hunter made his inquiry from a position of innocent ignorance: because he had never been more than a mile from his village, and because he'd never been out of the rainforest, he presumed that all of Yuza was covered in jungle, and if so then Gaia, too, was from that same jungle. Surely she had seen the Matriarchs from her home, yes?

In reality, Yuza possessed all the same sorts of terrains and landscapes that Earth had: jungles, deserts, grassy plains, snow covered permafrost, and more; all of this was surrounded by vast oceans, too, just as on Earth. But Hunter had never seen any of that. And with the planet being half again Earth's diameter, Gaia could have come from a village as much as 20,000 kilometers from here.

He just couldn't know.

 

[LandiKirk]

Once the beast was within the cave Gaia began cleaning a stone to use as a table. She pulled open the body and slowly removes the meats she cut earlier. Then she started stripping the mest from the leg with her sharp stone. These strips were less then an inch thick and about five inches long. These would be dried and made into jerky. She cut the kidney into slabs that would be like a steak and the other innards would make good bait for fishing. The kidneys she would smash into a paste and fry like patties and the heart was seasoned and given to the hunter that killed the beast. The stomach she emptied in the fire and let the hot air fill it. She then uses some sinew to tie the opening shut. Tomorrow she will make oil from the fat and oil the stomach to make a waterskin.

 

[TiredFingers]

When Gaia offered him the beast's heart, Hunter smiled. They were very different from one another in so many ways, both in their physical appearance and in their culture, but one thing their two villages had in common was what was to be done with their prey animal's heart.

At least, he presumed that that was why Gaia handed it to him. Maybe she just wanted him to slice it up and fry it on a hot flat rock; or maybe he was to stick his spear through it and hover it over the building flames. Whatever her intention had been, Hunter did what he'd believed was the correct thing. He stepped out away from the cave into an open area, from which he could see the sky; he lifted the heart into the air above him; he squeezed it gently, causing some of the blood still within it to drain out and drip into his mouth (and, as it happened, onto his face, neck, and chest simply because that happened sometimes); and then he brought the once beating but now silent organ to his mouth and bit deeply into it.

Now, back in the rainforest near his village, this would have been a relatively silent and solemn event. But he wasn't alone in the village kneeling over the site of his kill; Hunter was in a zoo exhibit well within view of more than 200 visitors, and that didn't even include the Yuza who were here watching the monitors or in their homes and businesses viewing the event on this planet's version of the internet. All along the railing high above him, there was a mix of sounds from the aliens at seeing this Human animal bite into the heart of the beast he'd so skillfully yet brutally killed.

Hunter couldn't help but notice the reaction from the patrons. Oh, the enclosure's designers had designed the waterfall and stream to cover the sound of the visitors, sure. And that might have worked for some of the other alien species the Yuza explorers of interstellar space had brought back with them from distant worlds. But Hunter still detected the reaction.

He looked up to the railing. Just as with the sound-blocking waterfall, the energy screen before the guests was supposed to allow them to see the Humans but prevent the Humans from seeing them. And just as with the waterfall, the plan had been only somewhat successful. Twice a day for about three hours each time -- this moment was one of them -- the position of the sun above reacted with the energy screen in an unexpected way, allowing Hunter -- and now Gaia -- to see the guests above them.

He sensed that what they were seeing bothered some of them. Or, maybe it delighted them and he simply didn't understand the Yuza. Either way, he bit deeply into the raw chunk of meat once again while staring up at the crowd. The reaction was similar again, particularly since the heart was raw and was once a hard pounding muscle and was, therefore, tough and hard to rip away.

Some might have thought the act looked gross or primitive or simply horrific. But to Hunter, it was simply ceremonial … and appropriate. The boar had given and would continue to give its being to Hunter and Gaia. It had to be honored. Feasting from its heart was just what was done. Hunter had been doing this since his first kill. The males of his tribe before him had as well. As far as Hunter knew, this had been an honored tradition for millennia. He couldn't have known that it had begun as a practical joke; decades ago, an Elder male had told his Yuza-born son that this was what males did when they killed a prey animal, and somehow it had become sacred tradition.

Once he'd chewed and swallowed the second bite, Hunter stood and went down to the fake wet land and tossed the remains of the organ into the water. A moment later a large predatory fish, followed by a second, a third, and finally more than a dozen began picking at the offering, ripping it apart with their razor sharp mouths.

Hunter stepped into the water and splashed the blood from his skin. (He didn't fear the fierce fish, as they feared him instead, due to his size.) Once he was cleaned of the sticky, drying blood, he returned to the cave to check on Gaia. Suddenly, he had a thought: should he have let her bite into the organ, too? In his village, women didn't so what he'd done. It was a male thing, as was cutting up a carcass. But, in her village, the women cut up the carcasses. Hunter wondered whether he should have asked. Next time.

 

[LandiKirk]

"Where are you from, Gaia?"

Gaia looks up to Hunter and frowns. "Gaa i ah foom tra ib"

"My village, from the river, we can see a mountain with three peaks. We call it the Matriarchs. Can you see it from your village?"

Gaia didnt know about three peaks but drew a familiar picture on the sandy floor. She drew a circle and triangles all around it. Small squares and images of the food that was grown there
Then the valley and the lake and the bigger squares in the valley that was the Hogan each family lived in. Gaia pointed at each image. " Wa terr eng moow tan" the small squares "maize... bans... oots... meent... poo kins." The lake "fee sh wa terr" the bigger squares "hoo gan." Then looked up and said "Ga i ah hoom. Hrr tra ib."

Gais didnt know what was beyond the mountains until she was snatched from the gardens.

Since Hunter didnt ask anymore questions Gaia went back to her work and was cutting more meat and fat from the flank. It was after Hunter went outside that Gaia realized he didn't have moccasins. There that would be her gift to him for being her protector and a symbol of her accepting to be his female. Since she had no competition for his attention she didnt have to go thru the same agony her sister went thru hoping to be picked by one of the handsomest Braves of their village.

Gaia put her hand over his footprints and measured the length Hopefully before the sinking moon she would have them done.
Gaia also knew that she would need his knife to cut the fur into shapes.

It was late when Hunter returned and Gaia had fallen asleep next to the soft fur of the hide she was able to cut away from the bones. Her dark hair spread over her body like a blanket and seeing her curled to the fur with those dainty feet sticking out .

 

[TiredFingers]

Hunter contemplated Gaia's words tra ib, wondering whether she meant she was a member of a tribe or from a place called Traw-ib. He was familiar with the first word, of course; his own Elders had begun referring to their slowly growing community as a tribe early during its beginning. He spoke the sounds back to her a couple of times, listened to her repeat it to him yet again, then nodded his understanding and said the word back to her with confidence.

As Gaia drew, Hunter continued to ask questions of her to better understand her former life and her dialect both.

Wa terr eng moow tan...

"Water," he spoke back, asking, "A river?"

He described water flowing along a shore, like the river near his village, even drawing parallel banks in the dirt next to Gaia. It was obvious from her reaction that Hunter wasn't understanding. She put him straight on it, explaining that it was more round and stationary. She used a word with which he was unfamiliar as his tribe had never had one within its lands; it sounded like ly-ick or lake.

"Moow tan," he repeated to Gaia, moving onto something he did know. He gestured to imply tall things, gestured to the faked cliff the enclosure's designers had built for them, and spoke it to her, "Moun-tains … mountains, yes?"

She confirmed he was using a word she knew, even if he did speak it oddly. He asked about the Matriarchs, only to learn that his mountains and her mountains were likely not the same ones at all. She seemed to imply that there were far more of them where she'd lived and that they possibly wrapped around her homeland.

Then Gaia moved onto foods, and Hunter understood some of those words immediately, despite the dialect difference. "Maize … corn … like--"

He stood, walked to the back of the cave, and came back with some of the food items the keepers had given him; some were only the remains, such as the cob of a plant that was similar to the Maize that had grown in Central America during the prehistoric era of Human life on the planet of their origin, while others were samples of foods Hunter simply hadn't fully consumed.

"Beans," he said, showing her some of the uneaten pods. He showed her some other items, learning that they weren't the bans with which she was familiar but were very similar. She seemed to be describing different varieties which were of different sizes, shapes, and colors and yet were still the vegetable of which Hunter spoke. He showed her some of the foods the keepers had given him over his three days in the exterior enclosure. "Potato ... bamboo shoot … tomato..."

She knew some of them; she showed surprise at others. Hunter took bites of the ones that were tasty when raw. He moved to the back of the cave once more, came out with a half eaten, smoked carcass of a mammal similar to Earth's guinea pig, ripped off a back leg, and offered it out, describing it, "Pig."

They spent over an hour talking about food, terrain, and more. He gestured her out of the cave -- despite not wanting to be seen by the crowd -- and walked her slowly about the enclosure; he pointed to things, from trees and logs both to the water fall to the wetland and more, speaking their names as he knew them and listening to her interpretation of them as well.

By the time they decided to get back to their real work, Hunter felt as though they were connecting very well. He was beginning to understand her dialect better; he even chose to pronounce some of the words her way rather than his. As Gaia returned to the carcass, Hunter did manlier work outside the cave. He used a large rock he'd broken to produce a strong, sharp edge to split and break in two some of the firewood that had been piled outside a door that the keepers had attempted to make look like part of the cliff wall; and he returned to a hunt he'd attempted the day before, searching for a large snake that lived inside one of the massive dead trees the exhibit designers had laid along the edge of the moat.

(Ironically, the keepers hadn't realized that the snake was in the real tree when they installed it with a crane weeks earlier. It wasn't a poisonous species, but it was a constrictor that could squeeze one of the Humans to death in less than ten minutes if it got a hold of one of them. Only after Hunter discovered the reptile did the keepers even know it was there. They'd contemplated killing it at first. But the exhibit's supervising keeper had decided that since Hunter knew about it and since the exhibit and its Human inhabitants were under 30 hour a day supervision, there was no harm in leaving it in place. In fact, it seemed to be natural and an enhancement to the exhibit since, obviously, the male Human knew what it was and knew it needed to be hunted down and killed.)

Hunter came back to check in with Gaia often over the remainder of the daylight hours before finally positioning himself to watch the sunset. Although it was very different here, the end of the day reminded Hunter of home. His village set on the north bank of the wide, westward flowing river, right where the body of water began to slowly turn to the south. That meant that at sunset for much of the year, Hunter could watch the sun light up the river's surface as it descended from the sky.

It was much different here in the enclosure, of course. The tall wall didn't allow Hunter to see the giant orb touch the waters, lighting it with its incredible oranges and reds. But if Hunter moved to the enclosure's east end and climbed one of the fake trees to a large, stable branch that held his weight well, he could see it peeking through a section of fencing beyond the end of the viewing area. Beyond that fencing were tall trees, and those giants added a touch of nature to the otherwise Yuza-created world which he -- and now Gaia -- called home.

At dusk, the aliens behind the energy wall viewing area were unseen from inside the enclosure. And the waterfall, which was directly behind Hunter, masked any sounds they might have been making. This time of the day, as well as during the first hours of it, Hunter couldn't know whether he and Gaia were being watched or not. He would stare at the barrier sometimes, wondering what their fascination in him was. Was he just a curiosity? Was he a pet? Was he a meal to be fattened for a future meal? Would he and Gaia be shared amongst all of the Yuza or just the keepers?

Hunter was doubting more and more each day that his captors were actually going to eat him. After all, they'd gone to a lot of effort to build this exhibit and both capture and care for a mating pair of...

Mating pair of Humans, Hunter thought to himself. Oh, it hadn't been the first time he'd thought of mating with Gaia, of course. The first time he'd had that thought was the moment he saw her standing there in the exhibit naked and on full display to him. And he'd thought about often since, even after she'd wrapped one of the hide blankets he'd been given around her waist, covering at least half of her womanly features.

But Hunter had only contemplated being inside the beautiful female for his own purposes: pleasure and procreation. Now he thought of it from the perspective of the keepers. They had to know that the two of them were different genders; their bodies were so different from one another, something Gaia had confirmed for herself when earlier in the day she'd reached to Hunter's groin and verified that he had something more than she had.

Did the Yuza understand it took a male and a female Human to produce Human offspring? Hunter hadn't gotten the best of views of the Yuza beyond the energy barrier, but he thought he noticed that they, too, had two very different looking types of beings, possibly male and female. Did they reproduce the same way Humans did? Oh, they had to; every animal Hunter had seen in the rainforest procreated via a male and female, so the Yuza must, too.

They wanted Hunter and Gaia to have a child. But why? More curiosity, of course. Viewing pleasure. We're just another animal to them, he thought to himself as he looked away from the viewing area and watched the sun disappear for yet another day. He stood and returned to the cave, finding Gaia sound asleep on the fur blanket spread across the straw and grass bed he'd built of provided materials.

Hunter crouched and studied the female for several minutes. The flames of the fire brought out the redness of her beautiful, dark complexion. He'd never known a female like her before, referring to appearance, of course. He looked to her hair; it was almost black as night, which was less common amongst the females of Hunter's people. Blond, red, lighter browns, and variations in between were more common in his village. Were all of Gaia's people similar to her in appearance? Or was she an outlier and the rest of her tribe was no different from Hunter's people than he himself was?

She shifted a bit in her sleep, causing the second blanket to slip down her torso, exposing her full, plentiful bosom. She would feed his child well with those breasts, Hunter thought to himself. He recalled having studied the rest of her body earlier in the day, particularly her shapely, wide hips which would aid in birthing his hunter son or gadder daughter.

Yes, he thought to himself, recalling his earlier thoughts about the Yuza's reason for putting him together with Gaia, I will give you what you want. We will give you what you want.

Of course, Hunter was getting ahead of himself. Gaia hadn't agree to making a child with him … because he hadn't yet even asked her to do so. Realizing that he was stiff as a limb beneath his flap, Hunter wondered if perhaps he should wake her and ask her to breed now. After a few more minutes of studying her, though, he decided to let her sleep. He stood, contemplating finding a private place to satisfy his need for release. But was there such a place for that in the enclosure? Out there in the open, the Yuza would be presented with a show they likely hadn't ever witnessed. (Hunter hadn't masturbated since being caught more than a month ago despite often having wanted to simply to relieve the stress of being in a cage.)

He moved to the back of the cave instead, sat in a pile of yet-to-be-used straw, pulled loose the hide clothing containing his male parts, and -- while staring at the sleeping female -- spit into his hand, grasped his erection, and began stroking it. Faster, harder, and with more stroking length Hunter worked his cock. He closed his eyes to the quickly building pleasure, and after fewer than a dozen up and down motions of his hand sent a stream of cum out onto the dirt covered concrete floor before him.

With his eyes closed -- upon ejaculation and afterward -- Hunter couldn't know whether or not he'd woken Gaia. And because he didn't know of such things as hidden cameras and microphones, he couldn't know that the on-duty keepers and veterinarian had watched every second of the self gratifying display, which was also being recorded for playback in the viewing gallery for the next day and days to come.

 

[LandiKirk]

Gaia was learning many new things very quickly. Hunter called the fish water a river. Perhaps that was the word his people used for the wet place fish dwell.

She was interested in the strange round circles he called to may toes. The ground root she recognized but it was bigger then she had ever seen... po tay toes. Then the last strange thing baa am boo shha out. Watching him eat of the new foods gave her a sense of nervousness. She didnt know how to prepare them.

Gaia looked at the meat "pa eeg." Slowly she took a bite then ate the rest of it with savor. It was better then anything she has eaten before that was called pig.

Going outside of the cave Hunter showed her many things and
now she was learning more words. "Wa terr f allz." "Law ga" "tre eez" "wa et lan" "moo tens" "fee esh" "grr ass" "ff ood" "wa ood" "sk eye"

Now they returned to the cave and Gaia set to work on the fur and meat. She wasn't paying attention to much and didnt notice when Hunter left.

An odd noise was coming from the far wall of the cave. Gaia opened her eyes and saw Hunter resting near the wall. Yet he was doing something to make a strange noise like that. Gaia got up from her bedding and walked over to Hunter.

Just as she got close, his manroot spewed strange milk from the top. Surprised to see this odd sight and having it land on her breasts and belly. She stepped back and looked at his face. What was this he did to her? Should she hit him for doing this or would she be punished for interrupting his sleep. Her heart was so conflicted that she stumbled back away from him. However not looking to see what was behind her, Gaia stepped on a rock and fell forward on top of Hunter.

Her eyes were wide with fear as Hunter stirred. Gaia had no clue what to expect next but silently prayed it wouldn't hurt.

 

[TiredFingers]

It had been so long since he'd had sex -- whether with a female of his village or with his curling fingers -- that the orgasm came quickly, came hard, and came explosively; a long thread of cum shot from his cock into the air...

...right onto the body of his female exhibit partner, who Hunter had not seen due to his closed eyes or heard due to the overwhelming sensation of his approaching climax. He slumped back into the extra bedding straw as the euphoria exploded throughout his entire being: his head swam, his heart pounded, and his entire body seemed to quiver with the pleasure he'd so long done without.

Then, just as he was coming down from his cloud of ecstasy, Hunter felt something fall atop him. In the low light of the campfire burning five or six meters away, he didn't immediately know what the creature was that was attacking him. He snatched at the unexpected shape, flipping it -- her -- off of him, farther back into the pile of loose straw. Instinctively, Hunter reached for the knife he usually kept on his hip, only to find the recently made hide scabbard empty; Gaia had borrowed his knife, he would remember in a moment, to continued carving on the massive male boar.

But before he came to that realization, Hunter came to understand that it had been Gaia herself who had attacked him. He was confused and disoriented, still reeling from the euphoria of ejaculation. He probably looked like a madman to the female, what with his stunned expression, his deep breathing, and the dancing of the fire's flames on his face.

What had she done, he wondered? Why had she come at him like she had? Through the fog of ecstasy, the answer finally came to him: she wanted to have sex with him, obviously. Hunter rolled quickly to Gaia and used his hands and knees to pin her back to the straw pile, maneuvering himself in between her thighs. He held the weight of his upper torso above the female on one arm, elbow locked; the other hand reached down inside the wrap of hide he'd given the naked Gaia shortly after meeting her this morning, searching for the wetness into which he was planning to ram his once again rapidly hardening manhood...

 

[LandiKirk]

Gaia was stunned after landing in the straw on her back. She shook her head to make the room to stop twirling around.

Before she could say a word Hunter had turned towards her. Gaia gulped hard as she thought he was going to beat her for disturbing his sleep

When he lunged at her and pinned her body to his Gaia became fearful and started breathing faster. His hands held her down and yet up.

"Hoon ttterrr." Gaia said it softly afraid to raise her voice at him. In his stupor it could be conceived as begging for what he was intending to do.

When Hunter pulled away the fur from her body Gaia thought he was going to rip her innards out, but instead he flicked his fingers along her slit. The bleeding place was damp at first but after his stroking it became like the water and flowing within.

Gaia began to wriggle as the heat from her loins became like fire. Hunter moved again and his manroot touched her skin
What was Hunter doing? Then she felt his flesh come at her, a strange pain like none she had known before swept thru her body. Now Gaia screamed in pain as his manroot plunged deeper still right thru her maidenhead.

 

[TiredFingers]

Gaia seemed surprise at Hunter's movement but she did nothing to stop him, only murmuring his name, "Hoon ttterrr."

The male's fingers found the wetness between her legs, his finger tips sliding up and down her slit a few times before his middle finger plunged as deep as it could go into her. Hunter was shocked at how tight her canal was, and he couldn't help but wonder whether he might just be the first male to seek a place within her.

She wriggled about beneath Hunter as he moved his finger in and out of her a few times, hoping to loosen her up. But again, Gaia did nothing to indicate she didn't want him to breed with her. Hunter still believed firmly that the female had come to him while he was self-pleasuring specifically to invite him to something a bit more pleasurable and productive.

Grasping his shaft and placing the head of his manhood at Gaia's now very well hole, Hunter shoved it forward … getting virtually nowhere at all. The female's canal was tighter than any into which he'd tried to enter. Hunter heard Gaia grimace at the force he was offering, but ignored it and pushed once again. The bulbous end of his shaft penetrated Gaia's restrictive muscles, and she screamed out in a mix of pain and shock.

Again, Hunter ignored her protestations. He had little doubt whatsoever that he was her first mating partner; the tightness and her reaction were all he needed to understand he was going where no male had ever gone before. He pulled back, to distribute some of Gaia's natural lubricants along his length, they rammed forward yet again, then yet again. The fourth plunge found his groin pressing firmly against Gaia's, and Hunter groaned out in a pleasure he hadn't enjoyed in quite away.

He hesitated there, balls deep within her, for a long moment. He could feel Gaia beginning to loosen a bit. But … it wasn't enough. When he began withdrawing his shaft and plunging it deep within her again and again, he could see in her face the pain that his trespassing was causing.

 

[LandiKirk]

Gaia felt a strangeness as Hunter kept moving at her body
She became aware that when he pressed into her loins that her belly swelled. She was full of his manroot and it hurt being much bigger then her channel was.

This ravishing of body gave Hunter pleasure but for Gaia who didnt understand why he was punishing her so much it was extremely painful.

Her body was slow to loosen up for the joy of breeding. It may cause her to be refusing on future attempts. In the end she passes out from his lusts which makes her cunt more relaxed and accommodating.

The zookeepers were concerned by the mix of reactions the pair was showing so consulted the veterinarian about what was being recorded.

"Perhaps we were wrong about the mental maturity of the female. It is obvious that she hasn't been bred before however I believe the male will change the female to do as he.commands. The male of their species is dominant and will force the female to obey. We will watch over the next few panels to see if the mating was successful. "

 

[TiredFingers]

Having just caused himself to cum via his own grip, Hunter's second orgasm was delayed in arriving. He knew he was causing Gaia pain, and he felt bad about that. But the discomfort a female endured during the first intrusion upon her womanhood was just part of becoming a breeder. She would survive this first night; she might even come to enjoy subsequent breeding, as most of Hunter's previous mates had.

The man from the distant rainforest had had his manroot deep inside more than half of the breeding age women in his village. It had been his responsibility as a fit, healthy male to contribute his DNA to the limited gene pool. And, to be honest, Hunter liked to fuck. And, continuing with that thought, most of his mates like to be fucked by him.

Fifty years ago after the shuttle crash on Yuza, the 16 survivors -- who knew they might well never see another Human Being again -- had decided that the old Earth norms regarding sexuality, procreation, and partnering had to be set aside. They knew that to survive on this new world, they had to broaden the tiny population's gene pool. That meant having every fertile woman of breeding age birth at least one child of each gender via each of the available men.

The crash survivors had included 6 males, 4 of whom were already of breeding age. The two youths would have to wait a few years to offer their own genetics to the cause. Back on Earth, their introductions to the breeding pool would have been considered illegal and even immoral in most cultures. Here on Yuza, though, it was a matter of survival.

There had been 10 females at the time of the crash: 6 had been of breeding age and fertile at the time; 2 would have to wait several months, possibly a year, for their now-discontinued birth prevention regimen to allow them to conceive once more; and 2 others -- like their young male counterparts -- were not yet old enough to be carrying another life within their youthful, fragile bodies. It was far from the ideal number of breeding specimens, but it was all they had unless they wanted to wander this massive, unknown globe looking for other Human Beings.

Over the next 30 years, the Elders -- and in particular 3 females, the Matriarchs, for whom the nearby mountains were named -- dictated and directed the breeding plan that led to the village's current make up of men, women, and children. As planned, nearly every single female crash survivor birth at least one daughter and one son by each of the available men. The exact number of children born to the village was unknown to Hunter; it was a large number, and once he himself had reached breeding age, Hunter had done his duty and spilt his sperm inside the wombs of whatever female the current cast of Matriarchs demanded.

He spilt his sperm inside women to whom he hadn't been assigned as well. Intercourse wasn't restricted just to the creation of new life; there often wasn't much to do in the jungle after the hunting, foraging, and other daily tasks were completed. There were times during the year when Hunter spent half the day naked in bed with one or more of the village's equally-horny females. Oh, they were fucking from sunup to sundown, of course; often they simply laid in one another's arms for warmth, comfort, and companionship. But then someone would touch someone else's sensitive, erogenous zone, lust would raise its horny head, and suddenly a previously quiet hut was filled with the sounds of eager and active sex.

Here now, with the softly crying Gaia below him, Hunter's mind was filled with the mixed thoughts of doing his duty by impregnating her and simply enjoying the feel of her unbelievably tight canal wrapped around his slightly larger than normal manhood. Just about the time she was in full crying mode over how much his intrusion was hurting her, Hunter groaned out loud and long as his manhood once again began firing out load after load of his seed. He ceased his back and forth movement within her and simply enjoyed the moment. Even after the last jerk of his root had passed, Hunter simply laid there atop the still-crying female, enjoying the disorientating spin of his brain.

Finally, Hunter pulled his waist back to retreat from within Gaia and rolled off her to his back. He laid there a long moment, contemplating how much joy he was going to have with his new mate...

...and then he was out.

 

[LandiKirk]

Gaia cried most.of the night and when Hunter released her, Gaia fled to the other side of the cave. Gaia took time to examine herself by barely touching the sensation areas

When Gaia drew back her hand it was covered in blood. She moved her fingers along her slit and realized that the blood came from inside. Was this her bleeding time? Or was she wounded by Hunter's manroot?

Either way she had to avoid him or he might throw her down again. When morning came Gaia had made Hunter some breakfast of meat and potatoes. She placed the food on a large leaf before going outside to find the waters so she could wash away the waters of pain.

Stupidity followed her as she took no type of protection and the noises of the Creatures in the enclosure made sure that Hunter woke to an empty cave.

 

[LandiKirk]

Repeated.post

 

[LandiKirk]

Remove

Repeated post

 

[TiredFingers]

Hunter awoke to a similar sort of pain in his body. Gaia had been so tight and it had been so long since he'd had intercourse that the male's penis and even some of the muscles of his groin ached from the furious fuck of the night before. He rolled and knelt, taking hold of his manhood and grimacing at the jolt of sensitivity. Looking around the cave, there was no sign of Gaia at all.

Suddenly, there was an animal sound with which he was unfamiliar. Hunter rose quickly, looking for but not finding either his knife or spear. He was becoming too complacent in his life here, feeling safer than he actually was. He rushed for the cave's entrance, slowing to look for danger. He found a once again naked Gaia down at the water's edge, looking off toward the source of the animal sound he heard yet again.

He found the spear leaning up against a boulder, snatched it up, and surged outside to put himself between the still unseen beast and his new mate.

 

[LandiKirk]

Gaia had taken a quick dip under the water and began scrubbing at her body to wash away the white goo from her skin and sooth her aching cint lips. If she was with her tribe she would ask her sister how a baby is planted and gotten the lesson of mating.

Then a noise from the right of the pool echos off the walls. It sounded like a scream of an animal that is caught by a bigger animal

Gaia stopped bathing and looked towards the noise. Her eyes piercing the shadowy area for signs of what she was hearing. Then it screamed again.. this time it was more of a roar and it was coming closer.

Gaia saw Hunter with his long stick and knife blocking her view of what she heard. Yes Hunter was her protector despite what he did last night. He would protect her from anything that might hurt her.

 

[TiredFingers]

Hunter couldn't know this, of course, but there had been more than 7,000 species of reptiles on Planet Earth at the time of the Humanity's first manned venture beyond their own solar system. (There had been more than 10,000 reptilian species just 100 years before that, but -- as with all life on Earth -- that Class of animals has suffered greatly from the elimination of habitat, global warming, and other negative effects, most of them caused by Humans.) He also couldn't know that today, there were fewer than 75 species of reptiles left on Humanity's home planet, and most of their surviving members were in various forms of captivity for research, breeding, or exhibit, much as he and Gaia were here on Yuza.

Whether 10,000 species or 75 or 1, the pseudo-reptile Hunter found himself staring at now was nothing like he might have seen back on Earth. Including its tail, it was twice as long as Hunter was tall, 9 times the human male's weight, shaped somewhat like a Komodo dragon but with a hairy lion-like head and Stegosaurus back fins, and covered in most places with scales as thick and long but four times as wide as the stone blade on Hunter's spear.

The animal that the keepers of the Intergalactical Zoo of Alien Life had named the Hurnkan Lizard was new to IZAL's patrons as well, as it had only recently been brought here from a world some 480 light years away. Astronomically speaking, that wasn't really far away; the interstellar quest for creatures displayed at the zoo had led the Yuzan ships more than 10 times that distance over their 2,000 years of collecting. Bringing such an animal here was a feat that required great amounts of time, money, and effort.

So, one might ask, "Why would you put so much into collecting such an alien animal only to put it in an enclosure where it would be killed by yet another alien species … or … possibly kill that other alien species instead?" (That other alien species was, of course, the Human Being, one of whom was facing down the Hurnkan Lizard with an entirely inadequate spear and bone knife while its new mate was standing naked in knee high water shivering from a combination of cold and terror.)

Well, the answer to that question would have been a resounding, "We didn't!"

The reality of the situation was that the Lizard's keepers had lost control of it as they were transferring it to the Veterinary Hospital for blood samples and measurement. The beast had killed three zoo employees during its escape, crashed through a metal gate, easily ascended a vertical wall on the outside of the Human Biped exhibit, then even more easily descended the fake cliff wall down which the beautiful waterfall fell on its way to the bathing pools and wetland.

Hunter should have fled but didn't. The beast was enormous and frightening and menacing; it made several, short shuffling-foot movements toward the armed but outmatched Human, each time releasing a massive, loud snort from its four nostrils that sent clouds of dust into the air between them. But frightened as he was, Hunter wasn't going to turn and run. Gaia needed protecting; she was his mate and his responsibility, and if he died saving her here today, Hunter would be following in the fateful footsteps of other males from his village had had also died saving their community's future … saving their breeding females, or in this case female, singularly.

Suddenly, there was a metallic clanking sound, and the side of the cliff near where it met the dirt covered concrete floor of the enclosure opened up. One after another, a dozen Yuzan keepers flooded into the exhibit, each armed in one way or another. Some of the not-alien-aliens had stabbing weapons with tranquilizer filled darts on the end; others had guns armed with similar sedatives; while the rest were carrying more lethal forms of weaponry in case it became necessary to put the murderous creature down for good.

Hunter studied the situation and knew without a doubt that the Yuza were here to protect him and Gaia. But looking to the open cliff wall door and seeing that no one seemed to be watching it, he also knew there was an opportunity to be had. He turned toward Gaia, reached his hand, and hollered, "Come! COME! We are leaving!"

Hunter had no idea where that door went; he had no idea whether it was the only door between the enclosure and freedom; he had no idea whether there were other keepers -- armed or not -- beyond that wall. All he knew was that this was their chance.

He saw the fear and hesitation in the female's eyes, waggled his hand at her, and hollered, "COME!"

 

[LandiKirk]

When the beast came into view Gaia screamed as she saw it could swallow her without any trouble. Then noises drowned out her screams and more monsters began to flood the area.
Now a greater fear grew in her pounding heart. Where was she to go for safety?

The Hunter shouted and made the hand gesture. Come! COME! We are leaving!

Gaia looked to Hunter and became afraid again. What would he do to her this time. She didnt stay where it was safe and Hunter did look mad. Then there was the two different monsters that could turn on her next.

"COME!"

Gaia lowered her head for a second then climbed out of the water heading for Hunter