by killing a setti could a Kinzu earn the right to harvest a spine to be made into a belt. A setti spine belt is the most prized possession of a Kinzu warrior.
◊ Ischuk fingered his setti spine belt as he went on. “A pod of fifteen setti had left the wilderness lands and a group of fifteen young males had won the privilege of hunting them. Two setti were killed and the rest of the pod headed back to the wilderness lands where their hunters could not follow.
“In an effort to head them off, the Kinzu hunters inadvertently herded the setti into a gloride mine at the change of shift when the gates were open. The setti slaughtered the workers leaving the mine and went into its depths. Force rifles don’t work in a gloride mine, so the hunters armed only with ceramic spears and knifes followed them in. Three came out carrying a dead setti. They headed back down with twenty other young males. This time none returned.”
The Kinzu cleared his throat. He was uncomfortable with this next part.
“Before another group of young males could enter the mine, I had the mine sealed. The young males turned violent. This was dishonor they said. Kinzu must have revenge on these setti, no matter how many Kinzu must die in the attempt.
“The mine produces caspin, but there are other caspin mines. This one could simply be permanently sealed, with a marker to the Kinzu who had died there. The young males would not stand for this. The setti had to be killed and dragged out. Honor must be served and every last young male would be willing to die to serve that honor.
“Kinzu are a long lived race, but there are very few children. Each member is very valuable especially the young. To go into the mine to fight these setti without force rifles was not honor, it was madness.
“Even so the young males would not be denied. I told them it was a high honor to fight setti in a gloride mine with only ceramic weapons. There were twelve setti in the mine. A hunter group of twelve Kinzu would be sent in the mine to hunt them. This would be a picked group, and competitions are being held to see who would have the privilege of being in the first twelve.”
Older males with force rifles are standing guard at the entrance to the mine to kill any setti foolish enough to leave. The setti would only leave the mine if they became very hungry and with the bodies of the miners, not to mention the thirty five hunters lost so far, it would be some time before the setti became hungry enough to leave.
“I have seen the way you killed those crocs and the tic with your bare hands. I wondered if your ability might extend to killing setti as well?” I could see Ischuk was making a decision.
“Even outside of a gloride mine where a force rifle could be used, a Kinzu would not use a force rifle to kill a croc or a tic, but he would use a blade. These creatures hold no terrors for a Kinzu with blade in hand. An off-worlder who had killed a croc or a tic with his bare hands and asked for the privilege to attempt to kill a setti, or a pod of setti with his bare hands, how could he be refused?”
The small boy in me accepted instantly. If he hadn’t I might have woken up before he had the chance to accept. I had accepted the moment the Kinzu stepped off the ship. I would kill those setti with my bare hands or die trying. I had no trouble looking into Ischuk’s eyes, because I meant it from the bottom of my heart. The adult in the back of my mind was screaming, wake up, this is real, and you could really end up dead. The trouble was, small boys, they don’t listen.
Ischuk told me that they would like to give me one tenth of a planetary treasury, not as payment for the quest, but to reimburse me for my time and trouble. This was a truly enormous sum, roughly what I would earn in 100,000 years at my old job. I refused the money. I could see the look of dismay on Merritt’s face as he saw his fat commission flying away.
Ischuk insisted. I could see in Ischuk’s face that giving me the money was important to him. The Kinzu sell a great many valuable ores to the wider galaxy, but buy little in return. Only about one Kinzu in a thousand becomes a warrior. The rest are scientists and engineers and farmers and laborers and all the people it takes to build and maintain a star traveling civilization. The scientists of the Kinzu are said to be the equal of the scientists of the Elan. The difference is that the Kinzu do not sell finished products. The Kinzu only sell valuable raw materials. The Kinzu rarely buy finished products or raw materials. The money the Kinzu make selling raw materials is used almost totally by Kinzu warriors on quests. A hero should never travel with empty pockets. I accepted the money. Merritt’s own ship took us to the planet of Market, where Ischuk and I boarded a star transport to Kinzu Prime.
<><>
This year’s grapes were harvested, processed, and the wine was being aged. Michael could not remember the last time the estate had produced so much wine in a single year and it had all been sold.
The new owner was going to Market to see about opening a line of credit. Money was not a problem now, but it never hurt to have something in the wings just in case it was needed. Bob was also going to bring back several of the varieties of grape vines from Market that Michael had suggested.
This was the icing on Michael’s cake; to develop a new house wine from blended grapes was his passion, to start a new house wine that would be produced for generations. Michael had a feeling that the new owner would have many children. It would be nice to have children running around the estate again.
Cedric walked in to find Michael staring at his plans for the new grape fields. “Michael the new owner’s gone.”
Michael looked up. “I thought the star transport to the planet Market didn’t leave for another two days?”
“Bob didn’t go by star transport. He left in Merritt’s ship, just Bob and Merritt and a Kinzu Warrior.”
“A Kinzu Warrior!”
“Yup, a Kinzu Warrior, I didn’t hear all of it, but I think the Kinzu wanted to have Bob kill some dangerous animals they were having trouble with. I can’t wait to tell the boys in town. I hope Bob brings home a recording of him killing whatever it is; the recordings of Bob killing the crocs and the tic is getting old.”
“Bob didn’t say anything to you before he left?” asked Michael.
“No, he just had this strange expression on his face.”
“Strange expression,” Michael said.
Cedric crooked his head to think. “It’s difficult to explain. Do you remember when your oldest son was about ten and you told him you were going to take him to that big deal children’s resort on the planet Delos. Remember that glazed, happy expression your son wore for days. It was kind of like that.”
“Cedric, maybe we should wait until Bob comes back to tell anyone. You don’t want everyone to think Bob is off fighting gloride monsters when he is only seeing a banker about a loan.”
“Can I at least tell Millie?” Cedric asked with a smile.
“You let me tell Mildred,” said Michael. “She is not going to like this.”
◊As I got off the star transport the storybook quality of the quest completely took me over. I was going to battle monsters that could kill a Kinzu warrior with ease.
The Kinzu world’s vegetation was a billion different shades of green and blue and the sky a rusty red. The gravity on Kinzu was more than on the planets I was used to and the air was thick and humid. Any plant I might eat would be instantly fatal. I had a good supply of allergy medication to counteract
