The Visitor

Boris TZAPRENKO

The Visitor

http://ilsera.com/b/le-visiteur/
 

Translated from French by

Paul Arthur Théorêt

ISBN:
9782366251081
 

Copyright © 2016 Boris TZAPRENKO

All rights reserved.

Registered with S. N. A. C.

Text protected under international laws and treaties

governing authorship rights.

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http://ilsera.com
 

Warning:

Any resemblance to real persons that may be found is totally fortuitous. It is to be considered as purely coincidental.

To the author who opened my eyes for which I am forever grateful.

Compared to the majority of my work, (I am thinking of the ''Il sera ...'' series in particular), it focuses much more on the meaning of the story rather than on scientific and technical aspects. The descriptions of phenomena and objects, natural or artificial, have much less importance. Thus, for example: what in this story looks like an apple will be called "Apple" and what functions like a car will be called "Car".

*

Somewhere in space and in time, on the planet Teruma orbiting a star called Denalbara.

Etos was one of the few members of his species still living in the wild on his planet. He raised his head to the spectacle of the stars. They were much easier to see from the clearing, where he was at this moment, than in the thickness of the forest where his kind gathered not very far away. He had only a very vague notion of what all these tiny bright points could be, but having often observed them, he had formed a few ideas about them.

First, from the consistency of distribution and light, he was convinced that they were eternal. Many, he recognized. Never did they dim except for a very rare few; never did they change position with one another.

Then, he deduced that since clouds could hide them, they were located higher up. Apparently, there was nothing above them, which was a second reason to give them his admiration.

He wasn’t able to say why, but he was convinced that something coming from them may very well change the destiny of many.
Maybe they were the eyes of forest gods
, he said to himself.

Mahisa’s lovely voice calling him brought him out of his contemplation. He ran to join her.

How could've Akkal suspected that with a single tiny finger movement, he was about to upset the course of his own existence? He slowly walked on the soft carpet of dead leaves, gun in hand. He loved the scents that were given off.

These moments of solitude did a world of good for him. They enabled him to empty his mind of his everyday concerns. Efficiency, efficiency, efficiency... ever more efficiency! To consistently produce more meat and milk at ever-lower prices. Such was his daily obsession.

Here, the forest was dense. Many bushes limited the field of vision to a maximum of twenty meters. He needed to move stealthily to be able to surprise the game. And if he was lucky, he still had to aim and shoot quickly, because the target never remained exposed for any length of time in the thickness of vegetation.

A rustling!

He stopped and quickly turned to his right shouldering his weapon. But no animal appeared. He remained a time thus, finger on the trigger, heart beating, eyes searching the undergrowth. But nothing... Nothing other than the whooshing of a few breaths of wind stroking the bushes. Disappointed, he resumed his pace forward taking care not to crush a twig. To return empty-handed wouldn’t bother him much; it wouldn’t be the first time. Akkal was hunting more for taking his mind off things than anything else. Anyway, more than for the pleasure of killing! That’s what he had told his daughter who criticized him for this activity. And also what he had said to his sister, who had went as far as calling him a murderer!

But it was especially his daughter feelings that counted for him.
How excessive she was when she talked of this inconse
quential distraction!
, he said to himself, remembering their latest discussion.
 

A new rustle interrupted the course of his thoughts! Stopping, he held his breath. Something had moved in the grove right in front of him. He raised his weapon and waited. The sound in the foliage was heard again, moving quickly to the right. Akkal saw a shadow slip in that direction. He fired twice through the vegetation. The thicket let out a hoarse scream. Akkal crossed over through it quickly ready to fire again, because he knew that a wounded animal could be dangerous. The hunter discovered his game lying in the grass. It was a young male. It looked dead, but even so, Akkal was careful not to lower his guard. Bovs lived mostly in herds, so it was perhaps accompanied... Weapon still raised and finger on the trigger, the hunter listened carefully and searched through the vicinity. A muffled cry and foliage noise justified his care for vigilance.

So Akkal, still keeping his guard up, turned to the prostrate body. With the tip of his foot, he turned the bloody head towards him. This bov was a magnificent specimen. It would provide enough meat for a long time and his stuffed head would make a most beautiful trophy for his dining room.

Akkal was pleased. He was particularly well positioned to have all the meat he desired, but for the same reason he was also well positioned to know that it was preferable to avoid the produce from his intensive farming. His son and his wife would be glad. His daughter, vegetarian, and even vegan, would make no comment, but he expected to read her usual criticism in her eyes. Akkal hoped that her activism in favor of “animal liberation”, as she would say, was a youthful whim, an adolescent's crisis, a way to demonstrate her new adult personality by taking a stand against her father. This fad was mostly born from the bad influence of her aunt. Hoping that she would get over this fancy some day, as soon as she turned really into an adult, he counted on the influence of her brother who sometimes made fun of her childish sentimentality for animal kind.

He fetched his phone from one of his pockets to call his son who was supposed to join him anyway:

“
So, my son, where are you?”
 

“
I'm here! Parking right now next to your truck. You're far away?”
 

“
No. No more than three hundred meters. Follow the old mill trail, you will see me on the right.”
 

“
Okay, I’m coming!”
 

Akkal waited for Akkalo.

Listening carefully, he searched again a few shadows in the surroundings. He had experienced in the past an assault by a bov in fury; their bites could be very serious. But the surrounding bushes didn't seem to conceal any danger. He tried to move the carcass, but failed to move it even one centimeter.
Terribly heavy, this beast!
he said to himself. He sat on the inanimate body and waited, keeping his ears open and shotgun well in hand.

“
Wow, nice prize!” exclaimed Akkalo upon seeing his father.
 

The latter did nothing to conceal his pride:

“
Not bad! I'm quite happy, for sure.”
 

“Well
, you didn’t even wait for me. I came for nothing.”
 

“
Except to help me drag this beast up the pick-up.”
 

Each pulling a leg, it wasn’t without difficulty that they dragged the bov over the grass.

“Phew
!” gasped Akkal, “I don‘t know if it is me who’s getting old or if this guy is particularly heavy, but it isn’t easy to move!”
 

They had to rest several times while crossing the distance to the vehicles. They were parked on the side of the road that skirted the edge of the forest.

Finally emerging from the forest, they let go of the bov. After putting their weapons into their respective vehicles, they toiled to load inert body onto the back of Akkal’s pick-up. Af
ter much effort, this was finally done, but it wouldn’t have been possible if it had been a single kilo more heavy.
 

Then, a rustling startled them into quickly turning around. Something had moved in the bushes. Akkal opened his vehicle to retrieve his weapon, but then, aware that it was late and saying that it was surely just a marauding lizard, he sat behind its steering wheel. His son did the same.

Leaning on the window sill, Akkaliza was gazing dreamingly towards the horizon in front, when she noticed two small clouds of dust rising there. It had to be her father and brother coming back from their hunt. Which was confirmed when the vehicles became visible. She promised herself to try to avoid criticizing them, to control her temper and bitterness.
I’ll get much better results if I can cozy up to him
, she said, thinking especially of her father.
 

When she was at her room’s window like this, she made an effort to look towards the right, to the forest side; she tried not to see the huge building that spanned the left side. High, two thousand two hundred and twenty meters wide, this construction was five kilometers in length. It was a place hermetically closed to the public. No one was welcome. Especially reporters! But, as the boss’s daughter, Akkaliza had opportunity to enter three times. Three times, she came back upset, dejected and depressed or in a temper. It was so overbearing that her father had finally decided that she would never gain entry again. He had given his supervisory staff instructions to this end.

The vehicles were getting nearer. When they stopped by the house, she could see what was in the truck’s back: a large male. The Akkaliza’s mother came out to welcome the hunters. Akkaliza looked on, dreary eyed. Her brother was going to whoop again, her mother also and once more, both were going to compliment the killer. Akkaliza chose not to descend. Having decided not to intervene, she observed them from above. As she had predicted, without real merit as it was too obvious, Akkalo, her brother, keenly expressed his enthusiasm with strong exclamations and much praise. As usual, Akkali, her mother, seeing the prize made compliments, but one could see from her more moderate attitude that it was
more to please than by real conviction. Hunting was her husband’s undertaking. She had nothing against it, of course, but her interest in the sport wasn’t so great. Akkal retrieved his gun and asked:
 

“
Akkaliza isn’t here?”
 

“
I think she's in her room," said Akkali.
 

Akkaliza retreated to hide, but she looked from behind the translucent curtain of the open left window pane. Below, three heads looked up briefly.

“
Akkaliza!” called Akkalo.
 

“
Leave her be," said Akkal. “She’ll come down sooner or later, for sure!”
 

 
Since she remained invisible, the hunter and his two admirers disappeared into the house. Akkaliza stuck her head out for an instant to see the bov that her father had shot. It was truly rather large. What a magnificent animal! It was so different from those of their livestock! She imagined it for a while, standing tall, living among its kind.
 

No
, she said to herself,
I won’t make any unpleasant comments. No way would I make him a compliment, but I won’t criticize him
.
 

Just as she was closing the window, she thought she noticed something that made her heart flinch in her chest. Had she dreamed it, or had the bov actually moved? She leaned down a little more and watched it with more attention. Nothing during the three seconds that followed happened, but at the end of that time she distinctly saw one leg tremble then slightly stretch. A soft moan accompanied this clearly visible movement.

Akkaliza bailed out of her room and flew down the stairs. In the living room, she rushed outside past her parents and her brother. Surprised, they looked at her exiting as if the house was going to explode.

*

Akkaliza reached the pick-up and fingers clenched on the edge of the truck’s back, she observed the creature; it was slowly regaining consciousness in a puddle of blood and making a cavernous groan.