The Raid of Kollanus -Chapter 05

The word for describing the task which lay before Ah-Dom was “formidable.” Perhaps a better word might be “delicate” or perhaps even ” ticklish. ” Whatever, he braced himself, cleared his throat and with perspiring palms began, “You have always been beautiful in my eyes.” The words caught Chava by surprise and the look of anticipation in her eyes made it more difficult than her aging husband had anticipated. At any rate, he was now committed to what he had intended to say, so wincing slightly, continued. “Unfortunately, mine are not the only eyes which look upon you.” Now searching her face for some sign that she might be skeptical of his case-pleading, Ah-Dom continued, “Dearest Chava… surely you have noticed that much of the knowledge you have described to my colleagues has gone unnoticed… well, that is simply because they are so busy in their prejudiced way comparing your appearance with their own that they foolishly allow your gem-like wisdom and intellect to escape unnoticed. N-now…” he stammered, “I personally know a little of what herbs and roots can accomplish medically… “and here, noting impatience entering her eyes, Ah-Dom simply stopped. For a moment, Chava looked up at him, her tight lips at last relaxed some and almost smiling she asked, “Out with it, my dear husband… what would you have me do?” Now, mustering all his bravery, he blurted out the surgical changes he would like to make to her face. Near the end, he began taking on the tone of the master physician he was, “and above all we should add a slender ridge of hone to your jawline …. you should have a chin… and I promise that in time, you too will grow to approve this alteration.” As she weighed his words in comparison to the mixture of nervousness and embarrassment which seemed so unlike him, Chava found she was unable to mask a little laugh, and moving her head in such a way as to copy his mannerism, she said at last, “Perhaps I will, my dear Ah-Dom… but before I commit myself to this, you must agree to mutual demands of mine. First you must inform your beloved colleagues that your name is no longer Air-Sot…I’ve noticed they insist on using your former name… and secondly, I insist that you marry me in your tradition just as you have already done in my tradition back on Earth… and please understand that I would insist on this even if I were not now carrying your child…” she paused, “which it so happens I am.” And finally, you must submit to an operation that I will direct. It will move at least a portion of one of your ribs to a place in your spine. This should permit you to again stand erectly and will almost certainly correct the condition with your eyelid.” He was now grinning and she responded with a look of mock seriousness as she concluded, “Well, my dear Ah-Dom .. . will you comply with my demands? ” “I say yes, ” he grinned even harder, “I say yes to everything you ask. ” It seems likely that her list of requirements went almost unnoticed, since he had just heard that he was to become a father for the first time in thirty years, and Ah-Dom was delighted to say the least. The bandages had been removed and the unseemly couple sat side by side admiring their images in the hospital mirror.

Finally it was Ah-Dom who spoke. “Look, my dear doctor Chava… just look at what I am now able to do.” Staring at the reflection of her husband, Chava watched the offending eyelid spring wide open then shut, then open again in an impishly awkward, yet vaguely flirtatious wink. somehow they both laughed at this and then came the discussion of Chava’s new jawline. Ah-Dom was thrilled by his results, but not so much Chava of hers. She was not convinced that her result was the improvement he considered it to be. “I don’t know, dear doctor Ah-Dom, ” she frowned slightly. “This procedure was for purely cosmetic purposes and I, for one, am not at all convinced the effect has been as anticipated. Now, in a gesture of exaggerated reassurance, Ah-Dom kissed Chava on the point of her tiny chin. It was, generally speaking, a moment of lightheartedness, but down deep he understood her apprehension. First there was the recent misadventure which befell Lit and to this he added the ever smoldering resentment of Chava’s people. “Do not worry,” he murmured, “after the child is born we shall all return to your Earth and we shall be safe from harm. If any animosity should show itself, we’ll simply stay in a place of security until that unhappy attitude has run its course, but for now all we must concern ourselves with is the soon to be birth of our son… and incidentally, the examination reveals his features more closely resemble my people than yours, but let us wait and see. Occasionally these examinations err. ” The operation that Ah-Dom had undergone was of the fusion variety and the results were even better than Chava had hoped. Not only did the weakness of his eyelid disappear, but his overall posture improved, increasing his height. Now inches taller than before and the foot he slid along the floor as he walked now trod as firmly as the other. Despite his improved health and appearance, when he first held his child, he looked more like the grandfather.

In spite of everything, Ah-Dom was delighted with the child and his joy seemed to almost radiate all around him. Chava too seemed happy; happier than Ah-Dom had ever seen. The smile seemed almost never to leave her face as she played with the little boy. At last she verbalized some thoughts which had been forming within her. somewhat pensively she confided to him, “He doesn’t have the look of my people. The hands and feet are long and narrow… almost as your own hands and feet must have been at his age, and while the chin is not large, at least he will require no operation such as mine.” Ah-Dom took in her words carefully, without comment. After a few minutes had passed, Chava asked, “And speaking of the operation, my dear doctor – husband, of what material was my new chin fashioned?” “My dear doctor-wife, ” Ah- Dom said through his broadest grin, “I had begun to wonder if you would ever ask this question… because the answer is a fascinating one. As you doubtless recall, the bone excised from my body for implantation in the spine was a rib. Well… only a portion of that rib was used. The rest was preserved and placed in cold storage for later use. That “later use” came during your operation. Part of my rib is now part of your jaw. The fact that you are now truly a person of two worlds is because of Ah-Dom’s rib… and since we are now of one flesh, I love you even more.”

In time, all medical procedures and concerns having been satisfied and recovery was complete, Ah-Dom, Chava and their infant son prepared for the trip back to Earth. They were given privileged quarters on one of two very large trans-void vessels on which there were cargoes of men and women of Himmer, thousands of them, convicts all, but not nearly so desperate a lot as the original ones. Some of these had been found guilty of the commission of minor misdeeds while others were simply called “incurables” and prior to being granted permission to emigrate to Earth were forced to submit to sterilization. Also, all women who were thus sent to Earth, were also rendered sterile, because it had been established through the early experimentation that the combination of Himmer egg and Earth sperm resulted in frequent unsurvivable deformation. The sperm of the Rimmer man and the egg of the Earth woman, on the other hand, seemed to produce a healthier, more attractive result. In time they became known as “Children of the Sons of God” and “The Daughters of Man.” It was Chava who gave the name Cain to their first born while Ah-Dom named their second son Abel. Abel was born on Earth, two years after Cain had been born on Himmer.

The best scientific consensus said that life had existed on Earth for perhaps five hundred million years, of which just eleven million bore the type of life which might conceivably be considered human in some ways. It was known that a number of races plus several branches of what some termed “near man” existed in ages past. In fact, as late as Chava’s age, there were occasional sightings of these so-called “near man” creatures reported. Some ten years before the arrival of the ” sons of God “, Chava’s father had been mauled by some creature while he, his brother and five helpers had gone hunting for game. Whatever it may have been, the fearsome beast was described as having stood more than six feet tall at the shoulder and able to scamper along the ground part of the time on its hind legs. According to the story, it was about to rip its fangs into his throat when the terrified man was saved by his brother, who jammed his spear into the side of the brute with such force that it penetrated perhaps six inches deep. The stricken creature dropped the man and ran screeching into the brush. Later the shaft and the rawhide. were found, stained with dried blood. The indication here was that the sharpened bone spearhead had remained embedded. It is doubtful that any creature could survive long in that condition. As for Chava’s father, a stocky man of the forest known as Tottava, his recovery was both quick and complete.

Tottava, his wife Ochava, like her daughter, a healer, and most of the tribe were on hand to see the craft land with Chava, Ah-Dom, the child, Cain and the others. As the disembarkation proceeded, there seemed an air of excitement pervading. This turned, very quickly to a shocked silence as the remodeled Chava descended the five steps to the ground. Finally, an amazed Ochava stepped forward, peered at the three faces and pausing as though to make certain that she was not misunderstood, turned to her daughter and said, “He has always been ugly to see. Now you have become as ugly as he… and as for this small child in your arms… he is the ugliest one of all! No mother ever wishes to say words like these … but I have now said them so that you will understand. ” Then Tottava and Ochava turned on their heels and left the landing zone. It would be years before they ever spoke again. 

Not very many days after the craft bearing Chava, Ah-Dom and their infant son Cain came to Earth, the first of the children raised in the crossbreeding nursery were introduced to the community. It was rather a subdued gathering which waited outside of the closed gates and when those gates opened, revealing the children for the first time, there were gasps heard and muffled words of shock. That they saw in the several dozen three-year-olds were not what they were used to seeing in children of that age. There were some with enlarged heads, some with chins, some without, many with heavy ridges of hone pushing the eyebrows out and quite a few with blonde hair, blue eyes, and other features never seen before. Very few seconds were needed for the “Sons of Man” to decide that they didn’t like what they saw. Moans and hisses of disapproval sliced the air. Something different had been shown and things that are truly different are generally greeted with shock and rejection. From the first time the aliens ever saw the savages, they called them mashed brains” and the savages called the aliens “square heads.” Certainly the heads of the aliens were not square and the brains of the savages were not mashed either. It so happens that a basic structure difference in the anatomies of the two races as responsible for the overall head shapes. It seems that the aliens, in the main used the cerebrum as the prime thinking machine, while the natives of Earth had evolved in such a manner that the main portion of their brain was the cerebellum. As the skulls hardened and took shape within the womb, they took the most convenient form to protect and accommodate the brains; just as they always had done. The main portion of the savage brain, the cerebellum, located at the back of the head above where the spinal column emerges required a lump in the back to house it. The alien brain of most consequence, the cerebrum, near the front of the head and close to the top, required a raised area there.

With the crossbreeding came a combining of the two main portions of the brain. The new children had some of both brains. Since there was less prominence to the cerebrum, there now was no longer a need from so tall a skull. and with the diminution of cerebellum, there was no need for so massive a bony mass in back of the head. Much more important than the appearance of these new people were the actual abilities they now possessed. The savage brain had always been superior in some ways. The intuitive qualities here were much stronger. They felt the ways of nature, being sensitive to the wiles of the beast in the field and the ways of the fish in the stream as well as to many of the vagaries of the weather. The alien excelled in reasoning, figuring and constructing. While the savage was talented in drawing and carving likenesses, the alien fashioned equipment to make life more convenient. The aliens language development was vastly superior, but balancing that advantage, the savages were apparently able to carry on beautifully with no need for all that verbal give and take. In the physical competitions which took place between the two, the savages proved able to carry heavier loads, while the aliens ran faster and jumped higher. The savage bow and arrow was more accurate at short distances while the alien pellets, spark driven proved superior at more distant targets. Savage women were obviously quite taken with the slender, tall, smooth- skinned alien men. As for the alien women, many of them seemed to have quickly developed a taste for the savage men, who they felt became paradigms of tenderness when engaged in the making of love.

It should be noted that alien men developed an instant dislike for savage men and savage men couldn’t tolerate alien men. Savage women found alien women vaguely interesting, if rather wan and weak, while alien women found savage women almost childlike. The alien women who were forced to undergo sterilization were obviously and naturally embittered by the “unfair” treatment they received, but resigned to this as a way of being released from confinement as criminals at home. And it deserves notice that all, the men and the women of both races, except those that actually sired them, regarded the product of the crossbreeding experiment with revulsion. Rumors began to circulate that these “special” children were at risk when left unattended, and so it was that a special camp had to be established for these offspring of the “Sons-of-God” and the “Daughters-of-Man.” West of a desert area called Dannod, it was given the alien name for “rich place”, Eden.

Not very long after arriving at Eden, Chava and Ah-Dom were blessed with a second son, Abel, which in the alien tongue meant “one who loves and is loved.” On reaching maturity, Cain became farmer while his brother Abel became a herdsman. Later, much later, in fact, there was a third brother born to them who was given the name Seth. This birth proved exceedingly difficult for Chava and early on it became apparent that she was not destined to fully recover her health. At a meeting of the Eden committee in charge of husbandry, it was somehow decided that Ah-Dom and Chava were being punished because they had in some mysterious way violated at least the spirit of the laws of nature, and as a consequence, they would be forced to leave Eden. Then came the cruelest part of this ruling. “But your sons Cain and Abel must remain here in Eden… or if they insist on leaving with you, they are to be sterilized. we will not have their seed spread haphazardly among the wild populace.” Later, that ruling was amended in that Abel could leave if he desired to, “but not the lesser bred Cain.” This entire situation infuriated Cain so much that every time he crossed the path of his brother, he began in fits of jealousy, to scream and threaten him. In time, they chanced to meet in a cleared place inside a forest where Abel fought his brother and lost. Before he died, Abel managed to slam a rock into the face of his brother. Cain’s brow directly above the center of the bony ridge was so severely cut that a deep, dark mark remained there for a long time and when it finally disappeared,, there was left a welt which some said looked like the angry face of a snarling jungle cat. This seemed especially strange when considering the fact that in the savage tongue, the name Cain meant, “trail of the beast.”

Four years after the birth of Seth, Chava’s fragile health slipped to a lower plateau from which she again slipped into a stance of pending death. It was then that her parents, Tottava and Ochava, both now bent and twisted with the infirmities of advancing years were sent for. For some time they simply stood, almost expressionless and mute in their gray years, looking into the shrunken face of their daughter. Chava’s eyes were sunken, and as they stood watching and listening, the hoarse rattle in her throat momentarily ceased. “I think she has already crossed over into the other world. As usual the square heads have treated us as they do beasts of the field,” Ochava mumbled just loudly enough to he heard. Slowly the sunken eyes opened and Chava managed to croak the words, “No…my dear parents… death has not yet released me from my exhaustion… it hovers near .. but has not yet claimed me.” Then Ochava hissed, “But why is death so slow? In our hearts we both have long wished that its black hood were already draped across your wretched face. We cannot forgive you for what you have permitted to be done to you. Even the square heads are aware of the wrongs you’ve done. Even now guards patrol the accursed grounds called Eden. He wretches within, including your murderous son Cain cannot escape and those outside cannot get in.” Chava never heard the last bitter words. Sometime during the tirade, she succumbed. Now it was Tottava who raised the heavy lids of his eyes and in a husky monotone addressed Ah-Dom. “Let me be clear…” he growled, “My wife and I have hate in our hearts for you. We now leave you quietly… but if ever again have the misfortune to cross the path of your wretched person, either I will slay you or I will die in the effort.” Consequently, they never did meet again. Tottava lived two more years in the place called Dannod, then died in his sleep. As for Ah-Dom who had once been Air-Sot, he married several times after this and he too died quietly. Which brings up a startling difference. When Tottava died, he was an incredibly old fifty-three years of age. On the other hand, Ah-Dom was a rather young two-hundred and one.