(Page 1 of 13) Food Fights by Stuart Quartermaine
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SUMMARY: This is natural-historical fiction set in a future post-extinction world in which some familiar creatures are taking over niches and taking new forms that merge their old behaviours and physiologies with those of the creatures displaced.--Section One
The Megadendroid trees are the biggest in the world. The average one is thousands of years old; this one is tens of thousands of years old. It is so massive that it supports branches that are thicker than most of its companions' trunks, and some of these branches support corpulent tributaries of their own. Countless insects and birds make their home in crevices and cavities within these. Near the top of the tree, in a cove beneath several overlapping limbs of bark, live the Bone Splitters. These form a gang of Skurdapithes – large, adaptable rodents that have filled the void left by the long-dead apes. Layers of severed twigs have been skilfully wound together across the opening of the cove, providing insulation against the bite of winter and fortification against those from their Musthrakid foes. Thinner twigs have been strewn with leaves and dead plant stems to provide soft bedding in both the male and female quarters, and all the inhabitants are fast asleep in both quarters, with one exception.
Initiate never sleeps for more than a few minutes at a time. His mind is ever alert – a great asset but a greater burden. He longs for deep rest and defiantly shields his eyes from remorseless morning rays that rape the cove through cracks in the maze of meticulously placed appendages. The gang is headed by two half-brothers, Inquisitor and Jouster, who lie on either side of the newcomer. Inquisitor has an overpowering stench but Initiate gladly shields his eyes behind the sleeping brute's fur. The struggle for slumber merely increases the surge of adrenalin through his veins, and his ears cannot shut out the faint but incessant sound coming from the edges of the forest. It is the sound of gnawing. Their distant Gnapithes cousins are felling timber to supplement their diet with inner bark now that their grazing grass has lost its lustre. The sound signifies that the Bone Splitters must rise. They must commandeer and stockpile megacorns from the fallen trees before rivals take them. Later in the year they must be first to find the giant, juicy slugs and the fungi that take up residence among the fallen dead. Winter is the time for contest feeding. The time has come for action, but Jouster is fast asleep with a thickly muscled upper limb lain carelessly across Initiate's neck, providing warmth. Initiate wants to score points with his mentor and ought to alert him, but his forlorn longing for sleep is too great.
Thwack! A long, thin trunk falls, bounces between its neighbours, and hits the ground. Small creatures can be heard scurrying. Jouster's limb contracts and his elbow grinds into Initiate's throat as he jumps to his feet. Inquisitor rolls over and compresses Initiate's ribcage. The cove overflows with the orderless noise of ill-articulated intents to do something purposeful. Cacophonic cries come from the mouth of Committee, the highest-ranking female. She exhorts the others to get out into the cold and elects herself to remain and guard the tree-top. Breeze, another older and high-ranking female, is suckling the young and also remains in the cove.
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